Shadowed Past
by SapphireKitti
Summary: Sequel to Shadowed Photo. DISCONTINUED. STORY HAS BEEN REWRITTEN. Over a year later, Ruby, with strange Chaos powers she has yet to understand, is sucked into another adventure when the Black Arms invade Earth! Leo has been kidnapped by the Black Arms, and Shadow is alive! ...but has no memory of Ruby. Can Ruby help Shadow discover who he is before it's too late?
1. Sunset to a New Disaster

**S. Kat: ****Hey peoples!! It's me, **_**saphireKat **_**with the long anticipated sequel to Shadowed Photo!!!! XD**

**Ruby:**** And since saphireKat's back…**

**Leo:**** That means we are, too!! **

**S. Kat:**** Yep! And of course, Shadow is back, too! **

**Ruby:**** Waaaaaaah!! Shadow!! You're alive! (hugs Shadow) **

**Shadow:**** Noooooo, I'm still dead—of course I'm alive! Now get off of me!**

**S. Kat:**** Oh, and just a FYI for you people, I decided to make this story rated 'T' because of an increase of violence (it's kinda based after Shadow the Hedgehog game) and because Shadow has a potty mouth. **

**Shadow:**** What…?! (glares) **

**S. Kat:**** I'll repeat myself: It's kind of based after the **_**Shadow the Hedgehog game**_

**Shadow: ****Hmph…yes… that is true.**

**S. Kat:**** So anyways, sit back, relax, and enjoy the story! The disclaimer will be presented by our dynamic duo, Ruby and Leo!! (applause, applause) **

**Ruby & Leo/Disclaimer:**

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**Shadowed Past: **Ch. 1- Sunset to a New Disaster

"Oh, woooooow!" I exclaimed. "Look at that sunset, Leo! Doesn't it look nice?" I gazed at the beautiful orange sky, slowly disappearing behind the tall buildings of Station Square City.

"Yeah… it does." Leo replied. "It's not everyday that you see a perfect sunset."

"Nope. It kind of makes you appreciate nature's beauty and the rare things, doesn't it?" I asked rather poetically. Leo sort of chuckled at that.

"Ha ha! Nice statement, 'Shakesspeare'." He teased. I crossed my arms.

"It wasn't Shakespeare." I corrected him. "It was merely a statement."

Leo just rolled his eyes and smirked. We had just gotten back from the beach and hanging out with our friends. Oh, and playing volleyball, too! I'm not exactly the _best _player, but I like playing it anyway. Of course, if I could've used my Chaos Control, my team would've won _easily_.

Yes, it turns out I can use Chaos Control. How I was able to, I still don't know. But, so my "powers" wouldn't get out of control, I went to a top secret training area with my Aunt Topaz and a few other agents to have a "practice session." Basically, I just use my Chaos Control as many times I can and as accurately as I can. Of course… I'm still not that perfect at it… considering the fact that the other day, I blew up a car… that was the _**Commander's.**_ _'Oh man, I have a feeling that he's still mad at me for that…'_ I thought miserably. But, the good thing was that no one else knows about my… new ability except, Aunt Topaz, Leo, Rouge, my little brother, Ricky (who is new 8) and my parents. And another good thing is that my powers only work with a Chaos Emerald, which I'm sure you all know about that stuff. And sometimes, Leo would come with me to the practice area too. I think he liked looking at the guns and the machinery they had and stuff. He's been getting into a lot of that stuff lately.

"Hey, Ruby." Leo spoke up.

"Uh, yes?"

"Err, it's really none of my business, but is the Commander still made at you for… blowing up his car?" He asked, trying to be polite.

"Heh… gee, I really hope not—hey…" I stopped in my tracks. "Wait a minute… I never told you that… how did you find out?"

"Erk." Leo froze dead on the spot.

Silence…

"…uuuummmmm… a little birdie told me…?" He said wearily.

I looked at him sarcastically. "Mm-hm, _which_ birdie was it _this_ time?"

"Uh, um, oh… ah! Look there's our ride!!" I ran towards a car that was across the street.

"Leo, you could of just said that you were watching from afar. I wouldn't have gotten mad at you."

"Oh." He said stupidly and sweat-dropped.

"Hey! Ruby, Leo!" The window of the car was down with a hand waving at us. It was Aunt Topaz. We walked up toward the window. "Hey Ruby." She smiled sweetly.

"Hi Aunt Topaz!" I leaned into the window and gave her a hug.

"Hey Leo, what's up?" She and Leo knuckled.

"Heya, Topaz! Nah, nothing much."

"How was the beach?" She asked as I climbed into the front seat and Leo into the back.

"Great! I had a lot of fun!" I replied happily.

"Yeah, but the water was cold." Leo complained. "And the sand was too hot." I gave out a sigh.

"You're just not as fond of the beach like I am, Leo." I smirked.

"Hey…! I don't _hate_ the beach like Sonic does or anything…" He defended. Aunt Topaz started the car and started to drive us home. "Hey, don't you remember that one time when Sonic fell into a pond and he was splashing around and was all like, 'Heeeeelllllllp!!! I'm going to drown!!!'? That was priceless, the water wasn't even two feet deep!!" Leo started to crack up and I giggled.

"Yeah, and I even took a picture of that!" I finally broke out laughing at the memory. "Sonic got so frantic and took the camera from me, and then Amy got made at him and shouted, 'Sonic the Hedgehog!! Give Ruby's camera back right now!'! They sounded like an old couple! Hee hee!" Aunt Topaz started to laugh. There was a brief silence in the car until I broke it. "Um, Aunt Topaz, have you hear anything from Rouge? Did she come back home at all?"

She let out an aggravated sigh. "Oh, I don't know. I haven't seen her in two and a half months! Stupid treasure…"

"Eeeeh?!" I was kind of surprised. " 'Treasure'? But she told me it was important business." Aunt Topaz looked back at me with a 'are-you-kidding-me?' expression.

"Ruby, you should probably know by now that treasure hunting is the only thing that's important to her!" She said in a matter of fact manner.

My face drooped and I sighed. "Yeah… I guess you're right…" I sighed for a second time, for some reason. Why did I feel so unhappy for a second there? Was it because I was disappointed in Rouge and her obsession over treasure and gems? Well, err, no. Of course not. Rouge is own person, or bat. You couldn't get her to stop hunting for treasure for the world. _Especially_ if they were Chaos Emeralds. Or Knuckles' Master Emerald, for that matter.

Then, another memory went zooming through my mind. The Master Emerald helped saved the Earth once because it restored the power of the Chaos Emeralds. And the ones who used the Chaos Emeralds were Sonic and…

'_Shadow…'_

I leaned the side of my head against the window. _'That's right, it's been a whole year from last month since I met him.'_ I took a moment to fast forward through the whole 'incident' that I went through with the Space Colony ARK. _'I wonder… If he were still here, would he recognize me? Or maybe even Leo for that matter.'_ I chuckled to myself. It was true. Leo and I have grown a bit. We were both a little taller, and slightly more mature. Especially me, because I was getting to that… oh, what did Mom call it? 'The first step to women hood' or something like that. Anyway, I out grew my hair, Leo did, too, actually. Though, it wasn't nearly as long as mine. He said something about looking like one of those skater dudes with the messy, semi-long hair. He and his mom argued about it for _weeks_. That was a very interesting argument, I might add.

_'But, still, if Shadow really were here, I could have become at least a friendly acquaintance at least…'_ Screw that. I would've become friends with him whether he liked it or not. _'I… just wish that… maybe, just MAYBE, we could've been…'_

It was then that I noticed the sky was slightly a different color. And there were dark clouds hovering above us. "Huh?" I quickly opened a window and stuck my head out. Was it just me, or was the sky actually **red**? And the clouds seemed to be almost **pitch black.** "Um… guys?"

"Yeah?" The both replied.

"…You should take a look at the sky right about now." I informed them. Leo leaned towards the window and replied, "Oh snap… Ruby, you weren't kiddin'. Hey, Topaz, take a look."

Aunt Topaz looked at Leo and I curiously and slowly opened the window. "What the…?" She stepped out of the car and starred up at the sky. Leo and I looked at each other, and did the same. There also appeared to be lightening! It was so weird… it looked like one of those freaky storms in a natural disaster movie! Except, this one was more frightening.

I… also… felt something coming. Something big and supernatural. It was like… a sixth sense. _'What…is this… feeling…? It's like some kind of…'_

Suddenly, that little feeling down my spine turned into a huge siren! I blurted out, "EVERYBODY!!! RUN!!!!!!!!" The people who were already looked at the sky looked at me like I was crazy. Aunt Topaz an Leo whipped their heads towards my direction.

"Ruby?!" Aunt Topaz questioned.

"Oh no, is something going to happen--?!"

**KA-BOOM!!!!**

'Something' just already happened.

A huge beam of light had crashed down on a building and incinerated it! This is when everyone started panicking. To make matters worse, these huge, monstrous, black things were starting to fall out of the sky!

"Ruby! Leo! Move it!!" Aunt Topaz shouted and grabbed us by the arms and dashed forward. About half a second later, one of the monsters landed right on top of the car! I was full of many emotions. Most of them were not good at all. 'W-wh-what's happening?! Where did these… **things** come from?!?'

"Ruby!!" I heard my Aunt's words reaching out to me, I turned toward her direction to reply, a monster landed right in front of me. I panicked, and started to stumble backwards. "Oh my God, Ruuuuubyyyyy!!!" Leo shouted and tried to run forward, but the monster also had some sort of gun and pointed directly at Leo and Aunt Topaz!

"NOOOOOOOO!!!!!!" I shouted. "DON'T YOU DARE TOUCH THEM!!!" I then felt a huge surge of energy run up my arm and into my hand. I don't know what made me do it… I just did it, for the second time. "**CHAOS…**" I raised my right hand as if it were a gun and gripped my wrist with my left hand to keep it steady. This was only my second time using this… 'technique' that I just picked up the other day. **"GUNSHOT!!!!"**

After that, a loud **'BAM!'** rang out and I closed my eyes. But, seeing as I wasn't used to this kind of power, I fell backwards, like, three feet and landed right on my behind! "Oofah!" I landed with a 'thud'. "Oww…" I opened my eyes to find that… I destroyed the monster, along with a few others, too. _'Oh… my… did I just… do…?_'

"Ruby!" I blinked rapidly to see Leo and Aunt Topaz running towards me. "Are you all right?" Leo asked concerned. I nodded. "Yeah, I'm all right, but what about--?" Leo waved his hand. "Hey, I'm fine. But more importantly… was that the new technique that you used to blow up the Commander's car?! That was totally wicked!" Leo exclaimed.

I reminisced. "Uh, yeah, that was the one…" I think I must've looked slightly embarrassed, because Leo chuckled a bit. Then his face seemed to be alarmed. "Oh crap…! Ruby, let's go, people are starting to panic, we've gotta get outta here!" I helped me up and I nodded, and we caught up with Aunt Topaz, who sorta gave up scornful looks I might add…

But suddenly a huge crowd of people started to stampede towards up and pushed and shoved passed us. "Ouch! Stop pushing…!"

**KA-BAM!!**

That one was really close, the people started to rampage down the street. "Aaaaah!! Leo! Aunt Topaz!" I called, no response. 'Oh God… I lost them!' "Leo, Aunt Topaz! Somebody, help!!"

_Fwoosh!_

_'Eh?! What was that?!'_

Suddenly, I found that I had been picked up and was being carried by someone. It sure as heck didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out who.

"Sonic!" I cried happily. "It's you!"

"Hey, hey, Ruby!" He smiled. "Long time, no see!"

"Th-thank goodness it's you!" I stuttered out, getting to the point. "I-I've lost Leo and Aunt Topaz!"

"Don't worry about it, they're probably safe about now." He said reassuringly. "The citizens are being evacuated as we speak, I'll take you to where they are!"

Just as I was about to thank him, I saw more monsters drop from the sky. "Sonic, in coming black monster things!" Sonic looked up.

"Uh-oh! Hang on tight, Ruby!" Then he started to run faster! My eyes bulged at how fast he was going!

"Waaaaaaaaah!!" I screamed as if I were on a roller coaster. The wind wiped through my hair. It was so… exhilarating! I couldn't believe how fast Sonic was going! I've always known he was the fastest thing alive, but I was actually experiencing his speed for the first time, and I was having a little fun…

…except for the part were the monsters were falling out of the sky along with lasers. Sonic was a very, very, very, very fast runner, but he was so reckless! I couldn't even count how many times we were almost hit by one of the lasers! "W-w-w-watch out!!" I screamed. Sonic made yet another close call. "Sonic, s-s-slow down, please!!" Now the 'joy ride' was turning into some kind of out of control car robbery ride. "Sonic--!"

A laser beam blew up the road that was right in front of us! Sonic lost his grip on me and I was sent flying! "AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!" I shut my eyes, waiting for the impact… but instead, I felt someone grabbing my by the back of my t-shirt. "Wha--?"

"Hey, Hedgehog. Is this yours?" Someone said with a hint of annoyance.

'_That… that voice!'_

I turned around slowly, not believing my ears.

_'It can't be!'_

There, right in front of me was a black hedgehog with red stripes.

"Shadow!!"

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**S. Kat:**** Woooooooooh!! I finally put the sequel up! Go me! Ha ha! Well, anyways, just a few quick announcements, peoples. Well, uh, for one thing I hope you liked this chapter… even though it's only the FIRST chapter. Heh. For some reason, I felt like I was rushing it…(or perhaps I'm over thinking it…?) I think it was because I just wanted to put Shadow in there as soon as possible. And I also ****hate**** starting at the beginning. Don't ask me why, I just do… But, ah, well. It is what it is. **

**Anyway, I don't know when I'll be updating this, because finals are coming up in… 16 days I think. So it's now time for last minute tests and projects. Joy… -.-; But I will promise you guys that I'll work on this story during the summer. Okay, that's about all I can think of for now… Oh! R&R and please leave nice comments, though I don't mind a critique here and there. Alrighty, later peoples!**


	2. No Memory

**S. Kat:**** Hola! Como estas, me amiga? (Hello! How are you, my friend?)**

**Ruby:**** Um… Bien… gracias! Y tu? (Um… very… good! And you?)**

**Shadow:**** (who happens to be overhearing)…the hell?**

**Leo:**** Uh… they're speaking to each other in **_**Spanish**_**, Shadow.**

**Shadow:**** (indifferent)…**_**Why?**_

**S. Kat:**** There doesn't **_**have**_** to be a '**_**why?'**_** Last I checked, this was a free country. **

**Shadow:**** Tch. Well, aren't **_**you**_** the 'all knowing one'?**

**S. Kat:**** (smiles) Y tu el stupido uno. (And you're the stupid one.)**

**(the audience gasp, then giggle)**

**Shadow:**** (glares) You're **_**very**_** lucky I don't know what you're saying or otherwise…**

**Rouge:**** O…Kay? Well, uh, those two are too busy fighting and Leo and Ruby are shaking in the corner…**

**Ruby & Leo:**** HEY!! ARE NOT!!!**

**Rouge:**** Heh. Sorry. So, here's the disclaimer. Enjoy kiddies! (wink)**

**Disclaimer:**** Don't own Sonic & Co. I own Ruby and Leo. That'll be all.

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**Shadowed Past **Ch. 2- No Memory

Describing myself as being 'shocked' would have been an understatement. I was _flabbergasted._ There, holding me by the scruff of my shirt was the one hedgehog who I thought was dead. Shadow.

"Sh-Sh-Shadow?!?" I choked on my own words. It had been so long since I had said his name out loud. "Is that really you?!"

Shadow turned his head to look at me. As if he didn't recognize me. He sort of gave me a questionable look, with a little frown. He turned back to Sonic.

"Sonic, do you know this kid?" He asked, still holding me up. (He was on top of a car.)

"Huh? You mean you don't recognize her, either, Shad?" Sonic asked.

' "_Either…?" '_

"Recognize her?" He took another look at me. _'What the heck…?! Do I look that different from before?' _I wanted to say something, but I think I was still shocked to find that Shadow was alive after all of this time. "Why would I recognize her? I've never seen her in my life." He said coldly.

"What?!" That really hurt. "What are you talking about? It's **me**, Shadow!"

"…And _you_, how do you know my name?" He glared at me. I was beyond the point of confusion right now.

"Shadow, that's Ruby. You two met each other a year ago, she helped you out back then." Shadow raised a brow.

"Ruby…?" He repeated slowly. "That name does sound familiar…"

"W-wait a second, Shadow." I stuttered. "How come you don't recognize--?"

"Shadow! Move it!" Sonic shouted. Before I could blink, Shadow picked me up and jumped out of the way of one of the monster's huge arms that smashed the car he was on top of!

"Eek!" I squealed in surprise. He landed on the ground and set me down. "Um… maybe we should talk later…?" I offered.

"Well, no offence Ruby, but now is sure not a good time!" Sonic answered. The monster started coming towards us.

"Yeah, I know." More monsters started to surround us. About four of them had some weird looking gun with them. Sonic moved in front of me, ready to fight, until Shadow held his arm in front of him.

"Let me take care of this." He said. Sonic smirked.

"Heh. Sure thing Shadow, after all, I hope you haven't gotten any weaker since we last fought." He chuckled.

"Hmph, you wish, Hedgehog." I saw him pull something from behind his back. It was a Chaos Emerald!

'_Where did he get one?!'_ I wondered. He then raised his hand and murmured,

"**Chaos Control!"** And he disappeared for a millisecond, but appeared behind one of the monsters and waked it across the face! He disappeared again, and kicked another, then another and another…

"Say, Sonic?" I asked while Shadow was taking on the monsters without breaking a sweat.

"Yeah?"

"Sonic, why doesn't Shadow remember me?" Sonic then made full eye contact with me. "I mean… does he have amnesia or something?"

Sonic paused for a moment. "Yeah, you could say that." I was surprised. I guessed right the first time?! "About three months ago, Rouge found him in a capsule in one of Eggman's bases. She released him, but he doesn't remember a thing about the ARK, the fight, me, or even you."

I felt kinda… worse. "Are you serious?" I asked again. "Not a thing?"

"No. He's trying to figure out his past. That's partially why he's here."

_'Shadow…'_

Suddenly, the last of the monsters fell. Wow, Shadow still had his fighting edge.

"Well, not bad, but I can do better." Sonic smirked.

"Tch." Shadow crossed his arms. "If you can do better, why haven't all of the aliens fled the city yet, hm?"

"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't know you thought like that, Shadow. If ya don't think I'm all that, how 'bout a little competition?"

"Don't waste my--"

"**RUUUUUBYYYYYY!!!!!"** I jumped when I heard the familiar voice that belonged to Leo.

"Leo?!" I turned around. "AAAAAACK!!!" Leo was running from a hoard of those black creatures that looked like they were going to kill him! "OH MY GAWD!! LEOOOOOO!!!"

Leo kept his fast pace towards me. **"DO SOMETHING, RUBY!!"**

"Ah! Right!" I got into my fighting stance. I turned my head back to Shadow and Sonic, who looked slightly confused as to what I was going to do.

"Uh, Ruby, what are--?" Sonic began.

"Listen, I know you guys probably think I'm crazy, but just catch me if I fall backwards."

"What?" They both replied. I turned forward and this time, I tried to do something different. This time I pointed my hand as if it was a gun like last time, but I held it up there, trying to store up energy. And… I felt it was working. I closed my eyes and concentrated. More… I needed more energy… _'Please, God,'_ I prayed silently, _'Help me save Leo.'_

Then I finally reached the limit I could hold. "LEO, DUCK!!" He did as I commanded and I griped my right wrist with my left hand. **"Chaos…"** And I pointed my hand at the creatures. **"GUNSHOT!!!"**

Welp, the good news is, I hit the aliens and Leo was safe. Yay me!

The bad was… I stored up so much energy that I was sent flying over a huge bottomless crack in the road.

"EEEAAAAAAHHHHH!!" I shrieked as I was now starting to fall. But before I even blinked, Shadow had used Chaos Control to catch me, then used Chaos Control once more to get to the cliff I fell off of where Sonic and Leo were waiting. Once we got back to the top, Leo shouted,

"HOLY CRAP!! SHADOW, YOU'RE ALIVE?!?!?"

"Yes, Leo, Shadow is alive, but he doesn't remember a thing because he has amnesia." I said with a strait face.

Shadow had a glaring 'who-the-heck-told-you-that?' look and Leo looked astonished.

"Sonic told me." I pointed at Sonic. I turned back at Shadow. "So… you really don't know me at all, huh?"

"…No, I don't." Shadow answered emotionlessly and turned away. My head sank. I felt really bad for him. Sonic broke the silence.

"Anyway, Ruby, when the heck did you learn a technique like that? Last I remember, you didn't have that kind of power!"

This caught Shadow's attention. He slightly turned his head towards me. "I'd like to know as well. That power you just used is a lot similar to mine."

I gulped. _'Should I tell them? I mean, Aunt Topaz told me that this was top-secret. But… this is Sonic and Shadow. I guess it's all right.'_

"It… was about six months ago. Um, Leo found a Chaos Emerald in a creek and decided to give it to me. Almost immediately after I held it, I just… used Chaos Control. And… that's it."

The hedgehogs stared at me for a bit. "…And that was it?" Shadow raised a brow.

I nodded. "Yeah, that was it." He glared at me even harder.

"As if." He turned towards me completely. "Do you honestly expect me to believe that--"

"Look, Shadow, I'm telling the truth!" I defended myself. "If you really did remember who I was, you would've known I was telling the truth!"

Shadow hesitated for a moment then just dropped the subject. "Fine. _If_ what you say is true." Sheesh, he sure has gotten _colder_ since the last time I saw him. Heh. Not that I expected him to be any nicer. In dreams only. I thought the thought of that was pretty funny.

"C'mon **Blacky**, would I lie to you?" I teased. He froze for a second and his left ear twitched. He slowly turned towards me with a suspicious look. Did I accidentally make him remember something? That was his old nickname I used to call him back in the day.

**"Shadow…"**

All of our heads perked up when we heard that bone chilling voice. Then, this weird, black, floating octopus thing with one eye floated towards Shadow. _'What the heck is THAT thing??'_ It stopped right in front of Shadow. **"The Chaos Emerald is secure and our work here is done. Now get going!"** Then the thing just took off into the sky!

Sonic smirked. "Guess that means, 'Welcome to the next level!' Let's go!" And he ran off. Leaving the three of us behind.

"Get back here!" Shadow shouted, and speed off after him.

I stand corrected: Make that _two_.

"HEY! SONIIIIIIIIIIIC!" Leo shouted. Shadow stopped running and Sonic came back half than a second later. "Yeah?" Sonic asked casually. Leo pointed to himself and I. "What about us? And what happened to our families, too?" He asked.

_'Oh, crap! That's right… Mom, Dad, and Ricky! I hope they're all right…!'_

"Don't worry about your folks." Sonic reassured us. "The citizens have already been evacuated, so they're fine."

I sighed out of relief. "Oh, thank goodness." I breathed. Leo let out a relieved sigh as well.

"As for you guys, let Shad and me take care of this one."

"Yeah, but," I piped in, "we can help to! And besides…" I pulled out my brand spanking new mini digital camera out of my pocket and said, "It'll be a great way to get some great pictures for the school newspaper!!" I said with a triumphant smile.

……………….Silence…………….

"That's just a stupid excuse." Shadow stated flatly. I collapsed. I slowly got up and rubbed the back of my hand, looking a little embarrassed.

"Eh heh heh. Okay, yah, maybe it was, but did you guys did not see me blow up all of those aliens not to long ago? And Leo is great when it comes to machines! Heck, he even knows how to drive a motorcycle! And he's only 12!"

"Come on, Ruby, I'm not that great—well, maybe I am, but you don't need to brag about it—then again, maybe you do…"

"Leo…" I said in a warning tone. Leo stopped talking. "Anyways we can really help! For real! We won't get in the way! We promise!"

Sonic and Shadow looked at each other, then back at us. Shadow spoke this time, "There is one way you two could help." I was surprised, a little. Sonic looked surprised, too. "You're familiar with Chaos Emeralds, right?" Leo and I nodded.

"Yeah." We answered.

"That octopus creature said how the Dark Arms, those aliens, had secured a Chaos Emerald. While Sonic and I chase them down, you can get the location of the emerald. Got that?"

I perked up. Finally, a real mission! "Got it!"

"No prob!" Leo smiled.

Shadow smirked a little. "Heh, for kids, you two sure are cocky."

"Hey, look who's talking." I pointed out.

"Whatever. Here." He then tossed me something. Unfortunately, he was a fast pitcher, so I nearly dropped the item. I looked at it to discover it was a blue Chaos Emerald.

"Huh? You're giving this to me?" I asked him.

"You're going to need that to fight off those aliens, so I'm letting you borrow it. Just remember that I'll need that back, you better not lose it or you're gonna get it." He sneered.

Leo and I sweatdroped. "Well, with a warning like that, we'll be extra careful." Leo smiled wearingly. "Anyways, you better get going Shadow, Sonic's already gone ahead of you. We'll see ya!" Leo gave a quick wave and started running. Shadow nodded and turned to leave until I called out,

"Hey Shadow!"

He stopped momentarily to look back at me, waiting for what I wanted to say. Problem was, I didn't know _what _to say. _'Gee, what should I do?'_ I asked myself._ 'I want to say something, but what should I say? "It was nice seeing you again"? There's no point of saying it if he doesn't remember me…'_

I inhaled and then, the words came out, "Uh, good luck, Shadow!" I said with a smile and I turned away to catch up with Leo. But, it's funny. I could have sworn he replied back, "…you too." Or something like that.

Odd. Perhaps, there still was a part of Shadow that was sort of 'OK' sometimes. Maybe, if I helped him, he could go back to that.

'_Ha! In dreams only, Ruby!'

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_

**S. Kat:**** Okay, there! Chapter number two! Hope you guys liked it.**

**Ruby:**** Wow, Shadow saved me a lot. Perhaps he's not so bad after all. **

**Shadow:**** Tch. Or it could be because you're too weak to save yourself.**

**Ruby:**** …then again, I've been wrong before. -.-;**

**S. Kat:**** (nods) Mm-hm. Review peoples!!!! Later! ;P**


	3. The Chase

**Hey people! I've got some good news! I'm finally done with finals and school!! Woot! Now I'll have more time to update my story! Welp, anyway, here's chapter three, enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Sonic and Co. Just Ruby and Leo, sheesh...**

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**Shadowed Past** Ch. 3- The Chase

"So, who's going first…?" I asked.

"Hmm… yeah, who _should_ go first?" Leo wondered out loud. The situation wasn't good. We were sort of hiding behind a rock from ten aliens who were trying to blow our heads off. And the stinking Chaos Emerald was close. Very close. I could tell because the Chaos Emerald I had was starting to glow brighter. This wasn't going to be easy. Sure, I had a total kick butt power and everything, but I didn't know my limit for it yet. Well, I suppose with a Chaos Emerald there really is no limit, but it's better to be safe about these things.

'_And I don't know how many more times I can use my Chaos Gunshot… come to think about it, I think I'm losing a bit of stamina, too…'_ I stared up at the sky for a moment. _'Wonder if Sonic and Shadow are having any better luck than we are?'_

_At that moment, with Sonic and Shadow…_

"Dammit! It's getting away!" Sonic shouted.

"Tch." Shadow grunted. Catching this space craft was actually easier said then done. Even though it appeared to be slow, it really wasn't, and it had some kind of force field, so normal attacks couldn't work on it. Luckily, there were plenty of GUN weapons lying around that Shadow mostly used. Of course, Sonic didn't even touch one of them. That's just not his style.

Shadow then spotted a lone GUN motorcycle. _'Hn, guess I could use this.'_ He hoped on to it and started it up. He was tearing up the highway within seconds. He shot down any annoying alien that got in the way. But at the same time, he was deep in thought. _'That girl…'_ he thought. Ruby's face came into his mind. _'It's really faint, but I feel like I've met her before. I just can't remember WHEN or WHERE…! Dammit all!'_ He then took the back of his gun and whacked an alien into the air while still riding. _'This is very irritating… wait, there was also that other kid… Leo, I think. I think I've seen him before too.' _

"Hey, Shadow!" Sonic's voice brought him back to reality. "Ya know, it's not very smart to go into 'deep thinker' mode and drive at the same time." He teased. Shadow ignored him and just kept driving. Sonic continued talking. He knew Shadow was listening to him, even though he was keeping quiet. "So, trying to remember something about Ruby?"

"…So what if I am?" Shadowed defended.

Sonic shrugged. "Nothing. I was just wondering."

"…I don't exactly have any memories of her…" Shadow began. "But she seems very familiar."

"Well, that's something. Ruby will be glad if you tell her that much."

Just then a beam of light shot up into the sky. Shadow stopped his motorcycle and Sonic stopped running. They turned to gaze at the light. Sonic whistled in amazement. "Looks like Ruby and Leo pulled through. They found the Chaos Emerald."

"That quick?" Shadow was sort of impressed himself. He had no idea that Leo and I would find it that quickly, mostly because we were just kids, but hey, anything's possible. But, the light wasn't the only thing they saw. When the light died down, they then saw an explosion.

"Oh, great. Looks like they're in trouble all ready!" Sonic murmered.

"Dammit…" Shadow muttered. Without warning he turned his bike and around and drove to where the explosion was.

"Hey!" Sonic called out.

"Sonic, you follow the space craft. I'll catch up with you later."

"Okay, then. See ya around, slowpoke!" And Sonic sped off. Shadow was VERY tempted to turn around and teach Sonic who he should call a slowpoke, but he had something more important to take care of…

_Back to Ruby and Leo who are having one heck of a time_… 

"GOD DAMNIT!!!!!" Leo shouted as he grabbed me by the arm and dashed away from the aliens.

"LEO! Language!!" I scolded Leo. "And don't use the Lord's name in vain! That's a sin!"

"We don't have time for a sermon, Ruby!!" Leo shouted. "Duck!" He slammed me down on the ground with his arm. I covered my head and heard rapid gun shots. Most likely by a machine gun. I slightly lifted my head to find GUN soldiers were shooting at the aliens.

"Looks like the backup's here, finally." I said. Just then, I saw my Aunt Topaz in full combat uniform running over to Leo and I. She quickly grabbed us by our arms and pulled us to safety and hugged us both.

"Oh… thank God you two are okay…" She then released us and looked at us with dead serious eyes. "Now then," she said flippantly, "do you two know… HOW MUCH TROUBLE YOU'RE IN?!"

"We're sorry! But it wasn't our fault!!" We squeaked.

"It's not like we did it on purpose!" I pointed out in our defense. Aunt Topaz sighed.

"Okay, fine, you're right. Just be more care—"

_WHACK!!_

I watched in horror as one of the aliens came behind her and smacked her into the ground. She was already unconscious when she landed.

"AUNT TOPAAAAAAZ!!!" I cried out. I kneeled down and nudged her. No motion. "Aunt Topaz! Don't be dead, please, please don't be dead!!" I felt a hand on my shoulder. When I turned around, I realized it was a GUN soldier. "Don't worry, we'll take care of her… Ruby, right?" I sniffled.

"Yes…" I wiped my eyes.

"I _thought_ so, your aunt talks about you all the time. Anyways," he pick up the unconscious Aunt Topaz bridle style, "you and your friend follow me, and we'll get you two to safety!"

"W-wait!" I called out. "We can't!" Leo looked at me as if I were crazy.

"What?! Why not?! It sounds a lot better then staying here!" Leo protested.

"We promised we'd get Shadow the Chaos Emerald and we will!" I pulled the purple Chaos Emerald out of my pocket. The GUN soldier gawked in amazement.

"Where on Earth did you get--?!" Suddenly, a huge alien flung a car at the other soldiers. "LOOK OUT!!" He shouted and jumped out of the way, without hurting Aunt Topaz. Leo and I were unharmed, luckily, but now we had another nasty problem on our hands.

'_O…okay, Ruby.'_ I thought to myself. _'It's time to get brave, you've gotta fight off this big, bad brute so Aunt Topaz will be all right… and… I know what else I've got to do too.' _I turned to the soldier. "Sir!" I called out. "Please, I'm begging you, take her someplace safe! I'll hold off the aliens!"

"Whaaaaat?!" Leo and the soldier shouted. "But you're just a kid!!" The soldier protested.

Just then I had another shiver down my spine… and I heard a motorcycle's engine. I smiled. "No…" I began to answer slowly. "I'm just a kid with kick-butt backup!!"

"Wha--?"

_VAROOM!! _The motorcycle went by.

_**KABOOM!!**_

Within that second, Shadow had successfully driven the motorcycle right into the alien, blow it up and get out of the explosion without a scratch. Right after that the soldier ran away, and Leo and I stood there gawking. I mean, I knew it was Shadow who was coming, but I thought he'd do some flashy entrance first like Sonic would, but then again, he's practically the polar opposite to him.

"HOLY CRAP!!!" Leo and I shouted. "HOW THE BLOODY HECK DO YOU MAKE THAT LOOK SO FREAKIN' EASY?!?!?!?!?!?!?"

Shadow just rolled his eyes and was about to answer, until I said, "Uh, never mind. No need to answer that one."

"Let me start by saying: you two are the biggest idiots I've ever met."

"What?" I was shocked. Why did he say that?

"I told you guys to _find_ the Chaos Emerald, not to _get yourself killed in the process._"

"But we _didn't _get killed! And I got the Chaos Emerald, too! See?!" I showed the purple Chaos Emerald to him.

For some reason he still looked annoyed. Uh, oh… something must've happened… "Yes, but thanks to you, I lost that damn ship the aliens were using to escape!"

"Oh… so sorry." I said coolly, which usually doesn't apply to my personality in a situation like this! "Do you mean that ship up there?"

Sure enough, there was the very ship Sonic and Shadow were chasing earlier.

"Hmph, well, since it wasn't that hard to find it, I'll forgive you, _for now_."

_'Oh gee, thanks…'_

"Listen, I need your help again."

"Oh, yes?" I replied.

"Try your Chaos Gunshot at that space craft. After that, wait for my signal, then fire again. Got it?"

Hmm… this was unusual… "Uh, okay!"

Then he took off. Just then I realized, "Wait!! What signal?! Oh, never mind." I pointed my hand up and gripped my wrist.

"Uh, Ruby?" Leo asked concerned. "You sure you gonna be okay with firing that thing this time?"

I thought for a second. "Well, not entirely, but you know what they say, practice makes perfect." I took aim… and fired!

**BAM!!**

And it hit right on the mark this time, too! …but again, I fell backwards. "Ouch! Ooooh, darn it! Why do I always do that?!"

"Woah, perfect shot, again!" Leo complimented and smiled. "Nice!"

"Heh, thanks!" I rubbed the back of my hand. "Now we've just gotta wait for Shadow's signal." I turned towards Leo, but he wasn't even moving. "Wha…?" I waved my hand in front of him. "Leo?" He was moving, but it was super slow, like someone had just pressed the slow-motion button on the TV. "Wait a second… this is Chaos Control!" I realized. "I guess this is Shadow's signal… I'd like to know how it's not effecting me. Maybe it's his power… well, doesn't matter, gotta shoot the thing before it wears off." I took aim once again. **"Chaos Gunshot!!"** De ja vue all over again. I fired, landed on my butt, Chaos Control wore off, and it hit its right wing!

'_Holy crap! How many times did I get a direct hit now?!'_ I thought to myself astonished. "Woooooooooh!!! Leo did you see that?!"

Leo looked at me with clueless expression. "See what?"

I stared at him. "But… I just used my… in front of you… did you seriously not see that?"

"No, he didn't." Shadow appeared behind me. "Chaos Control gives you the ability to make you move through time and space. So, to the human who are not in the Chaos Control field, you're basically moving faster than the human eye can detect." He crossed his arms as he finished his statement.

"Oh…! Well, that makes sense." I nodded.

"Huh…?" Leo still looked positively clueless. "I don't get what you two are talking about at all…"

"You were just born clueless, Leo." I mumbled and looked the other way.

"Hey!"

"Do you two always act like this?" Shadow asked with a hint of annoyance.

"Hey, guys!" Sonic's voice called to us. We all turned to him as he screeched to a stop. "Did you see where that ship landed?!"

I nodded. "Yeah, I helped blow off the right wing and it landed near Main Street." I said pointing. Sonic raised a brow.

"Seriously? Good job!" Sonic gave me a high five.

"…hey, girl." Shadow said. "Where's that Chaos Emerald you got and the one I gave you?"

"Eh?" I looked at him. "Oh, I've got the one you gave me right here," I said as I showed him the one emerald. He took it from my hand. "And the other one is right…gasp!" I let out a loud gasp. The other Chaos Emerald was missing! "W-wh-wha- what?!? It's gone?! But I just had it right here!!" I started to panic.

Shadow looked a little ticked off now. "You. Lost. The. Chaos. Emerald?" He said with slight rage.

_'Oh, man… he's pissed at me!_' 

"Wait!" Leo interrupted. "I remember something flying right past Ruby right before the ship blew up! It looked like that one-eyed, octopus thing we saw earlier!"

Shadow glared at Leo furiously. "Are you **sure**?" He asked, almost as if he were threatening him.

"Y-yeah! I'm positive!" Leo said nervously. Shadow didn't even wait a second to think, he took off and Sonic soon followed in pursuit. I did hear Sonic call back to us,

"You guys stay here! I'll come back to get you guys later!"

"Wha--?! Bu—Heeeeeeey!!" I called back. Too late. Darn, fast hedgehogs… so reckless…

I stood there for a moment, then I looked over at Leo with serious eyes. He looked into them, and knew exactly what I was thinking. "…We're going after them, aren't we?" He asked, sounding tired.

"Duh! Besides…" I got out my camera. "Can you say, 'Photo Book of the Century' after this is done?" I smirked. Leo rolled his eyes and smiled.

"Here we go again…"

_A few minutes later…_

"…Look, I don't take orders… especially from the likes of you. But I'm not here to fight with you either. I have my own reasons for collecting the Chaos Emeralds. So why don't you just back off?!" I heard Shadow say in a warning tone. Leo and I crept behind a tossed over car. I got my camera out, ready to take pictures. It looked like we got here just in time, too.

"**You just don't know your place, do you?"** The octopus eye cackled. **"BLACK BULL! I summon you!!"** The ground began to shake, and some hideous, gigantic black puffball with wings, one eye, and HUGE teeth emerged from the ground! I had no time to stare at it, with my mouth agape like what Leo was doing at the moment. I quickly took a couple of pictures of the… uh, thing. _'Ooooh man, Mr. Thomson is __**so**__ giving me a promotion after this!'_

"**Now, feel the wrath of the Dark Arms!" **

"Woo-hoo!" Sonic looked like he wasn't scared a bit, as did Shadow, though he didn't look that excited. "Bring it on!" Sonic shouted. Black Bull roared viciously and started throwing fireballs at Shadow and Sonic! Of course, they dodged them easily. Shadow leaped into the air and tried to perform a flying kick at it, but it just bounced back.

"Alright, my turn!" Sonic got into his ball mode and spun at Black Bull, only _he_ did zero damage on him as well. I actually took a picture of Sonic _bouncing off_ of the monster! "Darn it! It's got to have a weak point somewhere!"

Leo and I watched them in awe. "It's not looking too good for them." Leo said.

"Yeah…" I agreed solemnly. _'Erg… I wanna help! But… how? If I jump out now, I'll just get in the way, but… oh, come on, Ruby! Think, think, think…!'_

Just then, a totally random flashback popped into my head!

_Flashback…_

"Get it, Leo! Get it, get it, get it!" I shouted while waving my arms in the air.

"I'm trying, I'm trying!" Leo rapidly pressed the buttons on the game controller. "Gaaaaah!! Darn it, this is hard! The little robots keep getting in the way!"

"Sheesh… and figuring out the boss's weak point wasn't hard enough!" I grumbled.

Leo laughed. "Yeah, and the answer was like, right in front of my face, too!" He shook his head. "It's like that in all video games! Even if you don't have the game guide or anything, the boss's weakness if always right in front of you, whether it be the head, the chest, or some other body part, but either way… I wish people would be a little bit more creative on an opponent's weakness…"

"Hmm…" I said while looking down.

"DAMNIT!!"

"Waaaaaaah?!" My head shot up. "What is it?!"

Leo growled. "I just died!!"

"…That's no excuse for swearing, Leo!" I smacked him in back of the head.

"Ouch!"

_End of flashback…_

'_Oooookay, went a little too far back with the flashback, but Leo __did__ have a point. That monster's just __**gotta**__ have a weak point some where… it's just in plain sight and we haven't notice it yet. Or we've just gotta keep hitting it.'_

I studied the monster closely. _'Maybe it's week point was somewhere on it's body. If I study how it moved, maybe, I could figure out where it doesn't want to get it!'_

Shadow then got into his ball mode to make another attack at the monster. Before Shadow could hit it, it flinched its head away. Then the idea fell upon me like a ton of bricks! Its eye! Its eye was the weak point!!

"That's it!" I cried, figuring it all out. I stood up.

"Huh?" Leo looked up at me with a curious expression.

"SONIC!! SHADOW!!" I called out. Recognizing, my voice, they turned in my direction. They were a little surprised _I _was there, though.

"Ruby?!" Sonic said surprised. "What are you— oh never mind. Why its head?" He shouted while asking.

"I think maybe that's the weak point you guys are looking for!" I shouted back.

"Hmph, so a kid like you noticed it, too, huh?" Shadow asked me. Leo and Sonic looked confused.

"Noticed what?" They asked. I sweatdropped. _'Jeez, I thought at least __**Sonic**__ would notice it by now…'_

"Well, it makes sense now, and it's worth a try…" Shadow got into his ball mode once again and spun straight towards Black Bull. But, then, all of these other aliens popped up in front of his pathway.

"Ah! Look out Shadow!!" I called out. Shadow just bounced off of them, and ran right into, Black Bull's eye! And, lucky me, my idea worked! It lashed out in pain and turned around and tried to get away!

"That little sucker trying to make a break for it!" Sonic snickered. "Not so tough now, buddy, huh?!"

"Okay, let's see if I can do it again, this time…" I muttered. I pulled out my Chaos Emerald. **"Chaos…"** I concentrated on the spot I wanted to go to. **"Control!!"** I felt that same sensation of being lifted up off my feet and it was the same feeling as flying. Then, almost too, soon, it was over, and I was standing in the pathway.

"Shoot it before it gets away, girl!" Shadow shouted while running.

I nodded and looked dead in the face of the monster. "Okay, buddy, this is the end of the line for you!" I pointed my right hand like a gun, while holding the Chaos Emerald and gripped it with my left. **"Chaos… Gun—"** Suddenly one of the bat-like aliens swooped down and snatched the Chaos Emerald, and bashed me in the head in the process. All that I remember is that I totally missed my mark and that the monster shot a fireball at me…

…my head hit the ground hard…

"RUBYYYYY!!!" Sonic and Leo's voice cried out to me.

And… I saw a bright light.

"CHAOS CONTROL!!"

But was only consumed by the darkness as I lost my conscious…

* * *

**S. Kat:**** Yes! Chapter 3! This one took a little while. And this one was a little longer, too. I hope you all liked this one as well, and don't worry, the story will get better, trust me. ;) Okay, people, that be all I gotta say for now… surprisingly, so I'll see you guys later! Oh, and please don't forget to… ****REVIEW!**

**REVIEW!!**

**REVIEW!!!**

**REVIEW!!!!**

**(pant, gasp) Uh… bye! **


	4. A Bee in Need

**S. Kat:**** Hey guys. It's me. **

**Amy:**** Hey, are you okay, S. Kat? You look a little…**

**S. Kat:**** Nah, I'm good. I just got a little wake up call saying that I need to make a few changes. I'm good, though. But, I think maybe some little changes are required. **

**Shadow:**** Hmm, that's wise of you. If I may…**

**S. Kat:**** Not now, Shadow. Here's the disclaimer:**

**Shadow:**** …hmph…**

**Disclaimer: Don't own Sonic and Co. I own Ruby and Leo. That's all.**

* * *

Chapter 4- A Bee in Need

My eyes slowly opened as I started to wake up. "Unh…" I slightly moved my left arm, making sure I could move. For some reason, my right arm was killing me! It felt really numb. _'…must've used Chaos Gunshot too many times…'_ I stood up slowly, holding my head. "Wh…where am I…?" I heard foot steps coming towards me. "Good. You're awake."

I blinked and turned my head towards the voice. It was Shadow! Wow… he sure was popping up all over the place recently. "Sh…Shadow…? Oh, fancy running into you here—wait a sec! What happened?!" I asked.

"You tried to make an attempt to shoot down that hideous monster, but the Chaos Emerald you had was taken away, you fell and hit your head, and lucky for you, I saved you."

"Oh… thank you, but" I hesitated. "What about the Chaos Emeralds?"

"I got them back, of course," he replied flatly. But there was another question…

"Hey, where the heck are we? Where's Sonic? And Leo?"

Shadow kept silent for a moment. "We're inside one of Doctor Eggman's warehouses. After you were knocked out, Sonic and I took care of the alien while Leo tried to wake you up. But after Sonic and I took care of it…"

"What?" I was getting worried now. "What happened?!"

Shadow leaned up against the wall, crossed his arms and closed his eyes. "He was kidnapped by the Black Arms."

I froze.

'_What…?'_

"Y…" I gulped. "You're lying!!" I shouted. "You have to be!"

Shadow shot me a serious glare. "I am not lying to you." He said with a cold tone. I couldn't believe this…

"Why…why him?! Why, why, **why**?!" I pulled on my hair. I was in massive panic mode now, and losing my cool wasn't that smart, either. "Why would the aliens want Leo?!"

"Hey…"

"This is all my fault! If I didn't get in the way! I'm so stupid!!"

"Look, girl…"

"I-I've gotta go save him! There's on telling what those _things _are going to do to—"

"BE QUIET!! NOW!!" He shouted. I shut my mouth and whipped around to look at him with a shocked expression.

"Now listen to me _very_ carefully, girl." He said in a stern, emotionless tone. It's like _he_ was in charge all of a sudden! But, seeing the current position I was in, I guess he really was. "I _am_ sorry that your friend got kidnapped, but I don't have time for any side trips at the moment. I'm on a mission of my own: to collect the Chaos Emeralds."

"The Emeralds?" I asked. "Wait, so that's why asked me to…?"

"Yes." He answered before I finished.

"Why _do _you want to collect the Chaos Emeralds that badly?"

Shadow hesitated for a moment, then replied, "I need to find the secrets to my past, and I think the Chaos Emeralds are the key."

'_Okay, now that makes perfect sense!'_ I thought, putting it all together. _'But… still, I kind of feel bad for him… that he lost his memories in the first place… poor Shadow. Wait, maybe… I could still help him, at least.'_

"Shadow." I began. He stood there and waited for what I had to say. "Please, let me come with you!" I pleaded. Well, that must've caught him off guard; he looked at me as if I was crazy. "Look, I promise I won't get in the way, and plus, it seems to me, you're also trying to find out more on those black aliens, right? So if I can help you, we can find the aliens! You can get your answers out of them with some… persuasion, and I can save Leo and we both win!"

"…"

"…"

"…"

I sighed, defeated. I think that meant a 'no'. "Okay, I guess you don't…"

"Just don't get in my way." He said flatly and started walking.

"Huh?"

"What, are you deaf?" He asked while he was still walking. "C'mon, besides, I highly doubt you can survive in one of Doctor Eggman's bases without being caught…" He mumbled.

"Hey! That's not entirely true! I did just fine when I was up in Space Colony ARK!" I ran up next to him. He looked at me curiously.

"Space Colony ARK??" He asked.

"Wait," I said. We both had stopped walking. "You mean you don't remember that either?"

Shadow didn't look at me for a minute. He looked like he was thinking.

"Man, Sonic wasn't kidding… you really have forgotten _everything._" There was a brief silence. It was going on for way too long now… I had to lighten it before it got more uncomfortable. "Well, the good thing is that you've got me to help you, and if you have any questions about anything, I'll answer them honestly and truthfully!" I laughed awkwardly.

"Gee, I have the full and total support of a pre-teenage girl with Chaos Powers that _she_ still can't control. I feel so much better now, thanks…" He replied sarcastically.

"You're welcome." I smiled warmly. Shadow gave a 'hmph' and continued to walk.

"By the way, you did say that you would answer all questions I ask you, right?"

"To the best of my ability, yep."

"Fine then, _why_ were you in Space Colony ARK?"

Oops. I nearly forgot. The reason why I was up there was because Shadow kidnapped me! Well, then again, it was partially my fault, because I sort of charged at Shadow just when he was about to use Chaos Control. But I probably wouldn't have, if he didn't steal my picture. No I would have done it anyway, I think. Nah, if Leo could, he would've stopped me—

"Hey!" Woke me up from my 'critical thinking mode.'

"Oh, sorry, um… w-well, uh…" Crud. How was I going to explain this…?_ 'Oh, yeah, the thing is you hit me and then stole my camera and then you accidentally ended up kidnapping me too! Isn't that funny? Ha ha!'_ NO. Definitely not. "Erm… you-you see… that's kind of funny, well, ah…" Just then, I noticed the exit. Saved! "Oh, look, the exit!" I said happily and ran for the exit.

"Hey, get back here!" Shadow stomped after me. I final reached a huge metal door, but I was still able to open it. However, the outside was NOT what I imagined…

"Heeeey, Shadow?" I stared onto the landscape, which lied just outside the door. "Um… you said we were in Eggman's **base**, right?"

"That's what I said." He replied, annoyingly.

I slowly turned towards him. "Um… this doesn't look like a base from out here."

"What?" He pushed past me. "…ah."

It actually looked more like a theme park. No, it WAS a theme park! "Well, this can't get anymore bizarre, now can it?" I mumbled. "Then again, I was wondering when the Doc might try to do something like this…" I stepped out of the little base. The words **"Eggman Park" **were every where! Typical that the Doc would name a park after himself.

"There's a Chaos Emerald near by…" Shadow stated.

Wow. That was fast. "Oh! Are you sure?" I asked excited.

"Peh. Of course I'm sure. Who do think you're talking to?" He took out his green Chaos Emerald, and as expected, it was slightly glowing. "It's pretty close by. Try to keep up." And he took off.

"What the--? Heeeeey!" I called out. "How am I supposed to keep up with you if I can't run as fast as you?!" Just then, I saw an object being hurled at me. It was moving too fast for me to see what it was, so I ducked. "Woah!" When it landed, I realized it was the purple Chaos Emerald. "Oh." I quickly picked it up. "I see. I'll just catch up to Shadow by using this Chaos Emerald to find the other one." I started to sprint after him.

_'When I help Shadow collect all of the Chaos Emeralds, he'll figure out his past, and I'll be able to save Leo! Both of them have saved me before, so now…'_

Excitement boiled under my skin as I started to run faster.

_'I'm going to return the favor!!'_

_Meanwhile, with the misfortunate Leo…_

"…damn it…"

That just seemed to be Leo's favorite word of the day. Well, what better word would you say if you were stuck in an evil alien's hideout? Of course he tried to break out of his prison, which was some odd orb like object. The glass was a had a dark purple tint and it was suspended over the floor by some red, black, blue and purple goo. However, if he did actually break it (which wasn't so easy because the glass was at least a foot thick) he would be falling a good 20 feet to his death. So, no matter how you looked at it, the odds weren't too good for him. "Damn, damn, damn!" He said as he tried to punch the glass harder. Nothing, not even the tinniest crack. Leo clutched his throbbing hand. "Nng… damn it… the glass is hard!" He sat down, trying to calm down, hopefully the pain would subside.

_'Dang it! Why is all of this stuff happening to **me?** Or rather, **Ruby and I**. Man, ever since the whole ARK incident, weird things were happening to us, or rather Ruby, and now, **I'm** the damsel in distress! Just great!'_

Leo took a look at his surroundings. _'Where am I, anyway? I thought they'd take me to their ship or something, but this looks like an abandoned base in a jungle. What kind of base though…?'_

Just then, two aliens on his lower right blew up a door. Leo flinched and look toward their direction. One of them ran in, while the other stood guard. 'Are those things looking for something?' Leo wondered. He then glanced at some sort of writing on the wall that was covered in vines. He squinted, trying to make out the letters.

"G… U… N…" He murmured. His eyes widened in realization. "G.U.N.!" Now it made a little sense. "So this place used to be a G.U.N. base? Or maybe still is…"

Gunshots could be heard a little away, maybe less than a mile. "And it looks like they're here, too!"

"**Silence, you impudent human worm!"** One of the aliens hissed. **"Otherwise, your demise will be even more severing!" **

Leo glared at them. That got him really flared up. He gritted his teeth as they stomped away. _'Grr… I don't know why they even kidnapped me. I mean, what's kidnapping ME going to do for THEM? Well, I can't worry about that now. Right now, those creepos left me alone… time to plot an escape.'_

Leo sat down Indian style, crossed his arms and narrowed his mind. Even though he acted like a goofball most of the time, he is actually pretty smart. Unfortunately, there was a faint _buzzing_ noise that was a little distracting to him. And for some reason, it sounded as if it was getting closer.

Buzz… 

"…"

BUZZ…! 

"…?"

BUZZ—BONK! 

"What the-?!" Leo immediately stood up and whipped his head from side to side. Okay, first there was the buzzing, and then a 'bonk'? Leo leaned forward to find something twitching on the ground.

The object sat up and rubbed its head. "Oww… that's hard!" It whined. The 'object' turned out to be a… bee…?

'_Wha… a giant bee?' _Leo stared at the bee, which was still rubbing his forehead. He had a small orange jacket and a helmet with goggles on them. _'Ah! No, you idiot! He came from Sonic's world! Duh!'_ Leo tapped on the glass to get the bee's attention. "Hey! Hey you!"

"Huh?" The bee looked around, but didn't see anyone.

'_C'mon dude… PLEASE help me out…!'_ Leo taped harder and shouted louder. "HEY! LOOK UP!!"

"Wha- oh!" The bee stood up and flew to Leo's height. "It's a person in a purple glass jar! Cool!"

"…Hey! I'm being held hostage against my will! That is hardly 'cool', bee boy! How would you like it if YOU were stuck in a jar?!"

The young bee was silent for a moment. Then he quivered. "Eek… yeah, I _would _really hate that! Oh, you said you were being held hostage??"

Leo nodded. "Yeah, and I need to get out. Can you help me?"

The bee nodded. "Well, sure! But if I help you, could you help _me_ with something?"

"Sure! Anything! Just get me out of here first!"

"Okay! Oh, and before I forget, my name is Charmy Bee! Nice to meet ya!" He said happily.

"Heh, nice name, I guess. I'm Leo Richards. But you can just call me 'Genius'."

"If you were a 'genius' you wouldn't be stuck in that weird looking jar thing above the ground. Ha ha!" Charmy laughed and did a flip in the air.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay, enough laughing already, get me out of here!" Leo urged.

"Okay, wait here for second, okay?" And he flew off as fast as he could. Leo watched him as he disappeared.

"Okay… I'll stay here then…" He sat back down. "It's not like I can go anywhere else at the time…"

Fifteen minutes pasted. Charmy didn't come back. And now Leo was in a very annoyed and slightly pissed off mood. _'I can't believe… I trusted that bee… great, now there's no way I'm getting out of…'_

"Hey! Leo!" A cheery voice called out.

'_Oh. Guess I spoke too soon. Heh. And I was about to doubt him… how silly of me.'_

"Heya, Charmy!" Leo got up and waved. "What took you… so… long?" What he saw was unexpected. Charmy was riding some sort of saucer heading right toward him! "ACK! CH-CHARMY!! WATCH OUT! YOU'RE GONNA HIT--"

"Okay, now duck!"

"I _**really**_ hope you know what you're doing!!!" Leo threw himself down and the saucer cut right through the glass. However… much to out hero's dismay, there was also the problem that he was suspended 20 feet above the ground, and couldn't sprout wings just like that. And thus, gravity here must do it's job.

"CHARMY—I CAN'T FLYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!" Leo screamed as he plummeted to the ground. Or, he would have if not a certain Charmy Bee caught his leg in the nick of time. Leo was only about two feet from the ground. "Whew… thanks Charmy…" Leo sweated.

"N-n-no problem… but," Charmy grunted, "I have to put you down now… you're getting heavy…"

Charmy tried to set Leo down as soft a possible. When they reached the ground, Leo got up and brushed himself off. "Well, thanks again! Not only did you get me out of there, but you also saved my life." Leo held out his fist for Charmy to knuckle him.

"Hey, wasn't _that_ big of a deal!" Charmy did another flip in the air and knuckled Leo. "Well, now that I helped you, you're gonna help me now, right?" He asked eagerly.

"Yeah sure? What do you need?"

"Vector—oh, Vector's my boss. Vector told me that he wants five top secret discs."

"Uh-huh…"

"But, like, what's a 'top secret disc'??"

"…so you don't know what you're looking for then, huh?" Leo groaned.

"No, I know WHAT it is, I just don't know what it looks like!" Charmy retorted.

"Hmm…" Leo thought for a moment. "Let's see how I can put this… uh, they're kind of like CD's, but rather than putting them in a CD player, you put them in a computer. It's usually in some kind of flat, square case, too."

"You mean like that one laying over there?" Charmy pointed outside to a bush.

"Huh?" Leo ran over to the bush and pushed the branches out of the way to find a disc in a blue case. "Wow! That was easier than I thought." Leo grinned.

"Yah-whoo!!" Charmy flew around in the air doing spirals and spins singing, "We got the first one! We got the first one! Only four more to go!" Suddenly Charmy stopped spinning. "Oh yeah! I remember seeing more of those things when I went to get that saucer to help you escape! I think it was in that direction!" Charmy pointed to where the gun shots could be heard. Not good…

Leo froze. "H-hold on… you mean where G.U.N. and those aliens are duking it out…?"

"Yeah." Charmy nodded.

"…" Leo pivoted and ran to the door the aliens blew up.

"Hey!" Charmy whined. "Where ya goin'?? I thought you were going to help me!"

"Chill, Charmy. I _am_ going to help you out. I just need some equipment." Leo flicked the light switch. Luckily it still worked. Inside the room, were almost any weapon and gun you could have imagined. Charmy peaked into the room. "Whoa-ho! Check out all of _this_ stuff!" Leo rubbed his hands together, greedily. "Oooooh yeah! Now this is what I call jackpot! Cha-ching!" As he grabbed every weapon he could find one by one… but while he was doing this he thought to himself,

'_Ruby, I know you're worried about me, but don't worry. If I help out this bee, I think I might have a better chance at finding __**you**__!'_

His eyes then landed on what appeared to be a machine gun.

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**Ruby:**** Ooookay. Now I'm officially scared… Leo… holding a gun…**

**Leo:**** (shakes head) Tsk, tsk, tsk! You have little confidence in your life long friend, Miz Zorro. (towards audience) Kids, don't try this at home! No, seriously. DON'T! I'm only able to do this because one: I have experience from when I went to the G.U.N. bases with Ruby. And two: this is a fanfic, so it's not really true. **

**S. Kat:**** Thank you for that statement, Leo. Anyway, people, please, please, please, please, please, PLEASE R&R!!!! And make sure they're nice. If it's not, you're getting blocked. Sorry folks, don't hate me, I have my reasons. Anywho, hoped you enjoyed this chapter. 'Til next time, LATER PEOPLES!!**


	5. Fun at the Theme Park

**S. Kat:**** Hey people! Sorry for the slow update. I had a little writer's block… but it's all good. No anouncements for now, so enjoy chapter five!**

**Disclaimer: I don't Sonic and Co. I own the hyper active duo, Ruby Gemmon and Leo Richards!**

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Chapter 5- Fun at the Theme Park

I stood still, not wanting to falloff of the high platform I was on, over looking my surroundings. Well, even though Eggman was an old evil genius and a total jerk, but this place actually looked kind of fun from a kid's point of view. I had unfortunately lost Shadow again, so I decided to just look around for the Chaos Emerald, and then hopefully, I would run into Shadow.

Easier said than done.

It was so freaking hard finding the thing, and I was actually starting to lose my patience. The signal kept on going away, then coming back, going away, then coming back over and over again!

"Okay, that means either one of two things are happening here," I thought out loud, "It's either I'm going in circles or the Chaos Emerald is moving!" I sighed as I looked below me. Shadow was running around all over the park that all I could see was the yellow streak he left behind from his jet shoes. I spotted a pole right in front of me. _'I think I can get down if I slide on that.'_ I made a jump of faith and was able to grasp the pole, which luckily I did. Luck. It seemed to be what I was high on right now, heck, I was lucky enough to be _alive_ after all that happened today. I slowly slid down the pole and tried running into the same direction as Shadow. Surprisingly, I actually caught up, but only because he was running much slower that usual.

"Where's that damn FOURTH CHAOS EMERALD?!" He said irritated. Looks like he wasn't doing to good either. I decided to make my entrance.

"Shadow!" I called to him. I ran up to him a little breathless. "You didn't find anything?" I asked once I caught my breath.

"No…" He shook his head. "You?"

"Nada." I bowed mine. "Hey, do you think that maybe someone else has the Chaos Emerald or something? 'Cause, I think the emerald might be _moving_."

"Well, it would explain why we're both having a tough time **finding** it."

"Yeah… and to top it off, this place is kinda big. If Egghead was thinking about building a amusement park, he should have made maps! Every park has one, so why doesn't he?! Sheesh."

"Hn." Shadow shrugged.

"Um, Shadow?" I asked. He faced towards me, waiting for me to continue. "So… you remember Doctor Eggman? Because, earlier, you said this was Eggman's… 'park'."

"No, I've met him before. I don't have any memories of him, why?"

I gulped. "Do you really want to know…?"

"You _said_ that you would tell me whatever you knew about me truthfully." He pointed out coldly.

"Okay… well, you sort of tried to… help Eggman Eggman destroy the entire planet." There. Said it straight out. Great.

Shadow froze completely. He just stared at me. He didn't blink, didn't talk, I don't even think he was _breathing._ "I… did what…?!"

"L-look, before you get the wrong idea, let me start from the beginning…" And so, I told Shadow the whole ARK story. How he took my camera, how I ended up being 'kidnapped', and how we interacted with each other. He seemed… I don't know. At some points he seemed indifferent, but at others, he looked like he had mixed emotions about it. I even threw in there the Kodak moment between him and Rouge.. "…you took a picture of us fighting." He repeated.

"Eh heh heh!" I rubbed the back of my head. "Yeah, and I actually still have that picture, too! It's really funny, you were giving Rouge a really big death glare and Rouge was teasing you! But, after I took it… you were kind of mad at me." I glanced sideways.

"Well, of course I would be a little irritated at you, I didn't know you were such a trouble maker." He smirked.

"Oh, c'mon!" I retorted. "I wasn't _that_ bad! It's not like I messed up the machines or anything…" I added with a mumble.

"Did you?" He raised a brow.

"I just said I didn't!" I protested. "That would be Leo's thing. He's a wiz on machines. I'm the polar opposite, though… so keep me away from any high tech super computers!" I joked.

Shadow was silent for a moment. He looked like he was about to say something until we heard something flying over our heads.

"Huh?" I looked around. "It sounds like a plane engine."

Indeed, there _was_ a small blue plane flying right over us! "Isn't that…" Shadow mumbled. "Tails?"

I squinted. "I think you're right! It is Tails!" I jumped up and tried to call to him. "TAILS! TAAAIIILSS!! YO! YOO-HOO! DOWN HERE!!" I jumped up and down and waved my hands. Shadow just looked at me with indifference.

"It looks more like you're trying to land his plane instead of getting his attention."

"What?!"

"Wait a sec…!" Shadow said. He looked at the plane more closely at it's front area, or cockpit; I think it's called. In the center of it, was a silver Chaos Emerald! "A Chaos Emerald!"

"Wow! This must be our—" I started to say before Tails' engine suddenly blew up! It must of be because of the Chaos Emerald's excess power or something.

"WHOOOOOAAAAA!!!" Tails screamed as the plane spiraled out of control to the ground.

"OH MY GAWD! TAILS!?!?" I freaked out.

"Heh. This is just too easy. Guess this our lucky day after all!" Shadow smirked.

"How can you say that?!" I continued to flip out. "Tails just **crashed**!! We've gotta make sure he's all right!" I began to run in the direction of the crash site. "Hold on, Tails! We're coming!!"

" 'We'?" Shadow growled. "Hey, in case you're forgetting, _'we're' _just here to get the Chaos Emerald. _Not_ playing 'rescue'. I'm sure that fox can handle things by himself."

"Sorry, Shadow," I shouted back, "I'm not helping you get the Chaos Emerald until _'we' _make sure Tails is alright. Friends are more important to me than some shiny gem!" I continued to run. But before I turned my head, Shadow's expression seemed kind of… puzzled. He then sighed and dashed forward and picked me up, probably 'cause I was as slow as a turtle compared to him.

"_Fine._" He said. "We'll check on him, but if he's alright, and most likely he is, we're going straight for the Chaos Emerald, got it?"

I stared at him before I finally smiled and nodded. "Thanks Shadow."

"Don't mention it." He mumbled. "_Ever_."

I giggled at his stubbornness. It had been a while since I had seen the old Shadow. He may not look like it, but he can be… an okay guy sometimes.

"By the way…" He started. "…you're heavier than you look."

Okay, then. Scratch that part out, folks. Shadow's a jerk through and through.

"SAY WHAAAA--?!?!" I shouted. _'That jerky, little…!'_ I tried to think fast to defend myself. "Y-y-you little…!! Of _course_ I'm heavier, I'm **bigger** than you!!" I hissed. Boy, Shadow had no skills when it came to a woman's feelings, that's for sure. I wonder how Rouge could put up with him?

Shadow completely ignored me. "Here we are…" He stated. He put me down as we approached the fallen craft.

I tried calling out Tails' name. "Tails? Tails??" No answer. Shadow walked over and started to flip over the pieces of metal. He examined the plane closely.

"It's not here, the Chaos Emerald. And neither is Tails."

"I guess Tails must've ejected while the plane was falling, and the Chaos Emerald must've dropped somewhere else." I tried making a conclusion. I was relieved that Tails was all right, though.

Shadow sighed. "Let's go look for them…" He turned to leave.

"What?" I asked, not too sure if I heard him correctly.

"I said, 'Let's go look for them'." He repeated. "If we find Tails, he might be able to lead us to the Chaos Emerald."

I nodded. "Yeah…" This time Shadow ran slower so I could keep up. I decided to get a conversation going, since I didn't know how long it would take to find the Chaos Emerald, and I hated it when it was quiet. Plus, I had some things on my mind… "Say, Shadow?" I asked.

"What?"

"Uh, earlier, you were able to recognize Tails, do you remember him from before, or did you meet him after Rouge rescued you from Eggman's base?"

"After Rouge got me out of Eggman's base, yes."

"I thought so… um, mind if I ask you another question."

"Shoot."

"Do you think that Dr. Eggman might have something to do with you losing you're memories?"

Shadow stopped running. "What do you mean…?"

"Well, think about it," I tried to explain as best as I could. "Don't you think it's a little odd how you wined up in _Eggman's_ base. And that you, uh, sort of helped Eggman a while back…"

"What's your point?" He asked darkly.

"It's just that, what if Eggman is responsible for you losing your memories because he still wants you to work for him."

"…that's preposterous." Shadow retorted. "If he wanted me to work for him, why would he take away my memories?"

"I've been thinking that too… I hate to say it Shadow, really, I do, but maybe he was planning on using your memories as a bet for you to do his dirty work."

Shadow looked down and clenched his fists. He looked mad. Really mad. Did I say something wrong? I stepped back nervously. "I… I'm sorry… I shouldn't have said anything."

Shadow sighed. "No, it's fine. I just… don't know what to believe anymore…"

"I see." I looked down at my feet as well. I decided to try to not tell him anything else until he got his memories back. Well, think about it: If you lost your memories, you wouldn't know who to trust, would you? "I probably said too much. I'm sorry."

Shadow didn't respond. He started to walk slowly. "B-b-but…!" I called out to him. "If I help you, then you'll find the answers to your past!"

Shadow lifted his head, looking at me with questionable eyes. "Why?" He asked. "Why do _you_ want to help _me_ if I did all of those things you told me I did in the past?"

I smiled. "Because, you helped me before, too. And… I don't think you're really that bad."

Shadow had a cold look on his face. It frightened me. He looked dead serious. "Ruby… **don't move.**" He commanded. I then understood. I whirled around and pointed my hand like a gun. **"CHAOS GUNSHOT!!"** I was able to hit three robots who had their guns pointed right at us. I almost fell back, pushed me roughly back up.

"I _thought_ I told you to stay still!" Shadow snapped.

"Hey, I thought I handled that quite nicely, thank you very much." I folded my arms.

"Tch. The only way you could've 'handled that nicely' was if you didn't just stumbled backwards while you used your attack on them." He snickered.

"Honestly, you are soooo mean!" I scowled. "And after all of the nice things I've said, too! And for your information, I can't help it! The attack is strong, so that's why I fall back!"

Shadow shook his head. "No, you fell back because your form is wrong."

"Eh? My _form?_" I asked, clearly confussed.

"Have you _ever _shot a real gun before?"

"Err… no. I don't like using real guns."

"Well, you should probably learn to use a real one, if you want to get any better at your 'Chaos Gunshot.'" Shadow informed. "But, until I can find you a suitable one… we'll just have to improvise. So you better start getting used to guns, you don't have a choice whether to like it or not." Shadow turned his head around, as if looking for something. He then pointed to some sort of control box. "See that?" He asked me. I nodded. "Now point to that as if you were going to shoot it." I did as he instructed me. He studied how I had positioned myself. "Put your right foot in front of you…" I did so. "Put a little more space between your legs…" I did so again. "Bend your knees slightly…" I followed his instruction. "Now try firing."

I concentrated on the control box Shadow had pointed to. **"CHAOS GUNSHOT!!"** I cried out as the blast hit the control box… and I didn't fall backwards!! Yay! "Hey, it worked! Cool!" I turned to Shadow with a grin. "Thanks, Shad!"

"No problem. Actually, you just made a shortcut for us, as well." He pointed back to the control box. Right beside it, the door just opened.

"Ah." I stared at the door. "So it was beneficial to both of us then…?"

"Guess so." Without looking at me he immediately grabbed my wrist. "C'mon!" He lead me through the door, however, unknown to us that that there were even _more_ of Eggman's robots there! "Damn it…" Shadow cursed under his breath. "Well, at least they're just little pawns. Even _you_ can take these down easily, Ruby."

"Uh, okay!" I said. I was a little confused. What was he trying to do, train me, or something? "Here goes nothing! **CHAOS GUNSHOT!!"** I said while I fired my attack. I looked at the damage that I had done. _'Rats! I only took out two of them! It looks like the only way this attack can take out a lot of enemies is if they're in a line or something…' _

"Mm…" Shadow thought for a second. "Now I see…" He then got in a fighting position. "Ruby, I think Tails might be right ahead of us. I'll distract these guys and you move on ahead to where he is. I'll catch up to you in a minute."

"Okay… be careful." I said before I started running.

Shadow nodded and replied, "Right." He turned back towards the robots. I grabbed my Chaos Emerald and lifted it in the air.

"**Chaos Control!"** I cried and I disappeared. When it stopped, I was in a different location. Actually, I was in the place where Shadow wanted to catch up with me. _'Wow! I'm getting better at this!'_ I thought happily.

"Ruby…?" A meek voice called out. "Ruby is that you?" I turned around to come face to face with none other than the one kitsune Shadow and I were looking for: Miles 'Tails' Prower!

"Tails!" I said with glee. "It's so good to see you!" I ran over to greet him.

"Hey!" Tails said with a smile and used his two tails like propeller to fly over to me. When he landed I bent over and gave him a hug. When he released me, he smiled with a little blush and said, "Wow, you sure look different Ruby!" Oh, yeah. I did, a little. My hair _was_ longer and I grew an inch or two.

I smiled back. "Eh heh. Thanks. Well, it _has_ been about a year, hasn't it?" I looked at Tails. He hadn't changed too much really? I wondered why?

"Well, sorry to change the subject, Ruby," Tails rubbed the back of his head, "but what are you doing here? This is Dr. Eggman's _theme park!_ It's dangerous!"

"Oh, well, I'm not here by myself… you see, I came here with—"

Suddenly, there was a green flash right beside us. It was obvious who it was. "Oh. Wow, Shadow. That was fast."

Tails blinked in surprise. "Hey Shadow!"

Shadow looked towards us. "Tails." He acknowledged.

"This is actually good, I need your help!" Tails sounded a little bit excited.

"With what?" Shadow and I both asked, sounding slightly interested.

"Listen, Eggman stole rings from all around the world and used them to build this theme park! I came here to get them back, but I could sure use the help! What do ya say? Please?"

Shadow and I looked at each other. I think Shadow already knew I was thinking, _'Oh, heck ya, we're going to help him!'_ I'm just too good of a person to not help out a friend when he/she is in need…

Shadow sighed. "Do we have to…?"

I scowled at him. "**Yes** we do! And besides, maybe Tails can help us, as well!"

"Help you guys with what?" Tails asked curiously.

"We're here to find the Chaos Emerald you just dropped." Shadow answered.

"Oh, I see…" Tails said. "Okay, then, how about if you guys help me gather all of the rings, I'll let you guys have the Chaos Emerald!"

"Deal!" I declared without Shadow's permission. Shadow groaned.

"Fine… since you promised us the Chaos Emerald… and since Ruby is such a stinkin' do-gooder."

I frowned. "Heeeeey!"

Shadow ignored me once again. "So how many rings do we have to collect?"

Tails rubbed the back of his head again. "Eh heh heh… um, quite a lot… let's say, oh… 400 rings?"

_Ka-bong!_

That would have been the sound of my jaw dropping to the ground. "You're… kidding… right? That… many…?"

"W-well, it shouldn't take too long if you guys are helping me! And plus, you two need the Chaos Emerald, right?" Tails pleaded.

"Hmph. It really shouldn't take that long, after all, YOU VOLENTIRED US!!" Shadow pointed out.

"…oh… stuff it…" I mumbled.

"What was that?" Shadow asked with a death glare. Tails and I ducked behind a pillar, shaking. _'Oh, man! I forgot how scary Shadow's death glare was!'_

Tails timidly broke the silence. "O…okay, um, I've got portable radios for the three of us, just in case anything happens and so we can keep track of how many rings we've got." He handed us an earpiece that was attached to a little microphone. After we put them on, he then warned us, "Make sure you don't get caught by Eggman's robots, or get attacked by them or anything. They _will_ take the rings away from you. If you're carrying too much, drop some off at my plane, and put them in the cockpit, don't worry, the robots won't be able to get them."

"Okay!" I nodded.

"…" Shadow just nodded.

"Okay, then, I'll see you guys later!" And we went in different directions.

_A little later…_

"…curse my lousy sense of direction…" I mumbled, defeated. I had been walking around for fifteen minutes and I was completely lost, already! "This is juuuust greeeeaaaat! I've been wondering around for a while and I haven't found ONE ring yet! Where the heck am I anyway?" I then spotted a sign next to a building. "Finally, Eggman puts a map up!" I walked over to it and began to read it. I blinked and read it again. "Wha? _'Bye-bye'_?" The speaker on the map started making this evil laughing noise! And it sounded just like Eggman!

**"Mwa ha ha ha ha ha ha! You've fallen into my trap! Now prepare to receive the grand prize!"**

The trap door below me opened!

"WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!" At the last second, I turned on my microphone and screamed into it as I was falling, "HEEEEELP MEEEEEEE!!!"

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**S. Kat: Sorry, peoples, but that's where I'm going to stop it for now. Yeesh, this took me a little while to do, mostly 'cause I was a bit busy and I had a tiny little writer's block… but oh well. I'm trying to figure out what to do next chapter. I was considering, since Leo and Charmy weren't in this one at all, to let them have the next chapter all to themselves, or I can do a half thing, where Ruby would be in it, then we can switch to Leo. What do you people think? If you have a suggestion on what should I do, please share.**

**Leo: C'mon, S. Kat. I think it's obvious what the people want. They want to see more of myou!**

**Ruby: Tch. Yeah, right. They obviously want to see what happens next to me, since saphireKat put this chapter on yet ANOTHER CLIFF HANGER!!**

**S. Kat: (sweatdrops) Well, if you two are lucky, you guys might BOTH be in the next chapter. Anyway, R&R PEOPLE!! PLLLEEEAAAASE! And don't forget to be nice! Later!**


	6. Let the 'Fun' Commence!

**S. Kat:**** Hi peoples! **

**Ruby & Leo:**** Hey everybody!**

**S. Kat:**** Thanks so much for the reviews on the last chapter. In response to the people who reviewed, I decided to do a half Ruby, half Leo for this chapter.**

**Disclaimer: I dont' own Sonic and Co.! Just Ruby and Leo! Enjoy the chappy! **

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Chapter 6- Let the 'Fun' Commence!

I landed on the ground with a loud **'thump!'** "Oof!" I was lucky to land on something soft… but my fall still kind of hurt. "Ow-ow-owwwww! Darn it!!" I rubbed my… er, back side. "Man, was I lucky this place is padded, or I'd be in a _real_ world of hurt!" I slowly stood up and looked at my surroundings. I was in a pitch-black room with padding on the bottom… I couldn't really see anything else. I pressed the 'talk' button on my earpiece. "Hey, Tails, are you there? Can you here me?" I could only hear static in the back round. "Shadow! Hello? Anybody??" More static. "Great." I mumbled. I had no idea what to next. I mean, I knew _what_ I had to do, I had to get out of here! But I just didn't know _how_ to do it. I couldn't see a thing, my connection with Shadow and Tails was lost, and I didn't know where I was at all!

"**Well, well, well!"** Suddenly, a giant screen light up with Eggman's face on it. **"So glad you could make it here, Sonic the Hedgehog!!"**

"Huh?" I asked, confused. "Hey, Eggman! I think you've got the wrong person!"

Eggman kept rambling on. **"Now that you've discovered my little game room…"**

"Uh…? Hey, I said—" Just them I realized something. "Wait… a second… you're not the _real_ Eggman, you're just a recording." Well, that would explain why he was rambling on and on. I didn't pay attention half of the time about what he was saying. _'So, Eggman must've built this space as a trap for Sonic, but it looks like I got caught instead. But if that Eggman on the screen is just a recording… then where's the real Eggman, I wonder?'_

"**Let the games begin!!"** That brought me back to reality, sort of.

"HUH?! 'Games'? What games?!" I shouted. I heard some strange robotic noise behind me. I slowly turned around to see a robotic hand trying to grab me! "Uh…" I stared at it as it was getting closer. "OH, HECK NO!!!!" I screamed as I tried to run away from it, but it grabbed my waist almost within a second. "AAACK!! LET ME GO!! **LET ME GO!!**" I tried shouting, but, of course it didn't work. "GRAAAAAAH!! LET ME GOOOO!! I'M. NOT. SONIC!!!" The machine arm through me about and whipped me around so much that I felt dizzy. _'Cr… crap! I'm so dizzy right now that I can't concentrate hard enough to use Chaos Control! Somebody save meeeeeee!!!'_

Then I heard Eggman's voice again. **"What is going on here?! Who the blazes set off the trap?! WHAT?!? You blabbering bolt headed idiots!! Can't you see that is NOT Sonic?!? TURN IT OFF RIGHT NOOOOW!!!!!!" **The machine came slowly to a stop. I felt like a rag doll that had been tossed about, and plus, I felt very disoriented, so I couldn't even tell what was around me. But I'm pretty sure the 'hand' plopped me on the ground. At first I didn't even bother to stand up, until I heard footsteps coming closer to me. I was able to wobble to my feet.

"Whooo… goooooes… therrrrrre…?" I asked dizzyingly. I tried walking towards the footsteps, but I bumped into something and tittered to the side.

"I should be asking you that!!" Roared Dr. Eggman. "Who do you think you are, sneaking into my base and setting a trap that wasn't meant for you to… eh?" He took a good look at me. "Do I know you…? Wait, don't tell me… it was…. When was it…? Er… don't tell me…"

I had fully regained my sensed and decided to give him a hint. "You met me during the Space Colony ARK incident that happened a year ago."

"Now I remember you're the twerp, Ruby!!" He pointed at me accusingly.

My shoulders drooped. "Yep… that's me. 'The twerp'. Glad you were able to remember me by that…"

Eggman stood strait again, laughing slightly evilly. "Ho ho ho ho hooo! Well, I see that you've grown up a bit from last time. Guess you're not as 'twerpy' as I thought, eh?"

"Gee, thanks so much. Now what was with that crazy contraption that threw me around like a doll just now? Another revenge plot against Sonic?" I crossed my arm. Time to get serious now. I still didn't trust Eggman and I still hated his guts. That probably would never change.

"It _was_… until **you** decided to drop in!"

"Hey! That wasn't up to me! Do you honestly think I'd do something like that on purpose?!" I shouted angrily. "Oh, and by the way, IF YOU'RE GONNA MAKE AN AMUSEMENT PARK, PUT MAPS UP WHY DON'TCHA?!?! IT TOOK SHADOW AND I _FOREVER_ TO FIND OUR WAY AROUND!!!"

"Don't criticize _me_, you snot nosed brat!!" He shouted back. "AND I AM STILL WORKING ON THE SIGNS, FOR YOUR- did you say 'Shadow and I'?"

I covered my mouth with my hands. Crap, slip of the tongue! Eggman grinned easily. "I knew you didn't get in my park by yourself. Heh heh heh…" Craaaaap. What next? "So," He continued. "Are you going to tell me where he is?"

I gulped. I decided that now would be one heck of a time to act tough. I tried to put on a confident smirk. "Well, not saying I will, but why do you want to know where Shadow is?"

"That information is strictly off limits to brats like yourself." Eggman sneered.

"Tch. If you're gonna call me a brat in front of my face, then _forget it!_" I crossed my arms with a 'humph!' "But… I think I might already know why…" I purred. "I know that Shadow lost his memories of the Space Colony ARK incident, and that he was found in YOUR base by Rouge later on."

Eggman raised a brow. "…And your point to all of this is…?"

I glared at him. "I think YOU had something to do with him losing his memories!" I accused him. Eggman just stared at me.

"…"

"…"

…………silence… … … …

"BWA HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAA!!!!" Eggman started to burst out laughing. I tilted my head, confused.

"What you _you_ so jolly about?"

"Heh heh heh…." Eggman wiped a tear from his eye. "I can't a kid just accused me of doing something like that… ho ho ho!"

"Stop laughing!! I KNOW you're hiding something!" I was seriously getting angry now. "What the heck!!!"

"Ahem." Eggman cleared his throat. "What makes you think that _I_ had something to do with Shadow losing his memories, hm?" He was testing me, I knew it.

"Because… well, it just so happens that Shadow was found in YOUR base. Now it could just be a coincidence, but, seeing as you're an evil genius and had Shadow helped you in the past, I find that unlikely."

Eggman folded his arm and nodded. "Mm-hmm… I see. So that's what you really think, huh?"

I looked at him dead in the eye. "Yes, I do."

"Heh. Sorry to burst your bubble, kid, but I don't have any idea on how Shadow lost his memory. And you're going to have to get your answers from somewhere else. Because I didn't do it."

'_He could be lying…'_ I thought. _'But I don't think I'll get anymore information out of him.'_

"If you say so, then, doc. Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got to be leaving. Good bye." I turned around to head for the giant door. But when I had only taken a few steps, orange, round like robots surrounded me, most of them were equipped with guns! _'This cannot be good…_'

"Oh, but I must insist, you haven't seen the rest of my park yet! Why don't I give you a little tour?" He grinned. "And who knows, if you're lucky we just might run into Shadow as well, then _we can talk_."

_'He's going to use me as bait to get Shadow! I've got to think of a quick escape! C'mon… think… think… think of something!'_

Then, out of the blue, I came up with an idea! "Now, now, Dr. Eggman. I think there's a more reasonable way of solving this little problem…" I faked a sweet smile.

"Hmm?"

"Well, I really don't feel like 'helping' you, and you don't really feel like 'letting me leave', so how 'bout we play… game!"

"A game?"

"Yes, well, actually, what I really had in mind was…" I paused for dramatic affect. "_ROCK, PAPER, SCIZZORS_!!"

"…you're kidding right?" His brow twitched.

"Nope, I mean it!" I said cheerfully. "Best two out of three. If I win, you have to let me go. But if you win, I'll help you find Shadow! C'mon, it's the only fair way I can think of, or… are you scared you'll lose to a girl?"

"Pah! Me?! Scared of a little runt with no special abilities or no fighting experience?! Hahaha! You're one funny kid! I except!"

'_Hmph… you'll regret underestimating me, Egghead!'_

We both put our hands in fists, and cried together, **"Rock, paper, scissors, shoot!"**

I turned out that I got rock and Eggman got scissors!

"Alright! That's one win for me!"

"Don't get cocky, it's best TWO OUT OF THREE, remember?!"

"Ah, fine." We started again. **"Rock, paper, scissors, shoot!"**

This time I got rock again… but Eggman got paper! Darn it!

"HA HA HA! Goes to show you that there was absolutely no way a pathetic little twerp like you could NEVER defeat me. Even in a simple game of _'Rock, Paper, Scissors'_!"

"Ah, quite your yapping, we've still got one more round to go!" I scoffed. "Okay, let's go…" Just then I noticed something. Eggman had a slightly more confident grin on his face… and he was reaching for something behind him… I bet he was planning on cheating and making me be the bait for Shadow all along, even if I didn't challenge him to 'Rock, Paper, Scissors'!! That… low-life-slime-bucket!!! _'I guess I have no choice, I too, had a plan B if I were to lose, or if you planned on cheating, so sorry, Egghead… NOT!'_

For the final time, we cried, **"Rock, Paper, Scissors…"** But this time, neither one of us pulled out a rock, paper, or a scissor. Eggman pulled out a tazer, but, just before he could use it on me, I pointed my hand like a gun. **"…Shoot."** I muttered.

"What?!" Eggman hesitated, now was my chance!

"**CHAOS GUNSHOT!!"**

_Meanwhile, with Leo and Charmy…_

Leo threw his bazooka on the ground, panting. The machine gun had run out of bullet's so he decided to switch to a machine gun. They had gotten four of the five top-secret discs, they just needed one more now. "Whew… jeez… I can't… believe… how many aliens I've… gotten…"

Charmy sat down next to Leo. "Leo, are you okay? You seem shaken up."

Leo caught his breath. "Nah, I'm just a little tired. I'm sort of used to this, a little, 'cause I've been trying out some types of guns while Ruby and I went to the G.U.N. base for her to train, so I mostly check out the guns that they have and stuff. And I also like playing video games with lots of gun and violence! Yay, violence!" Leo said gleefully.

"Hee hee hee!" Charmy laughed. "You're a great guy, Leo, even though you're a little clumsy when you fought that one HUUUUUGE worm!"

"Hey! That think was the biggest frickin' worm I ever saw! Can you blame me? And I didn't know it had homing missiles, either! But, another plus for fighting these aliens is that they have cool weapons and stuff!"

"Yeah I agree!" Charmy said as he jumped to his feet. "Hey, you know what? I feel better all ready! Let's go! One more disc to goooo! One more disc to goooo! And guess who's gonna find it!" Charmy sang.

"We are!" Leo pumped his fist in the air. "All right! I'm all reenergized and ready for more fighting and violence! Whooooo!" Leo got up to his feet. Okay… where would the last one be…?" He turned to Charmy. "Charmy, do you think you can scout the area and see where it is?"

Charmy gave him a thumbs up. "Sure thing! Stay right here, I'll be right back…!" And he flew off.

"Yeah… that's what you always say…"

It actually was quicker this time. Charm came flying back as fast as he could in 5 minutes, panting. Leo looked a little concerned. "Woah, did something go wrong?"

"W-well… I almost got squashed by and alien, 'cause I wanted to get a better look at it… heh heh… Oh! And I found the last disc! But, uh…" Charmy rubbed his head. "I couldn't get it, 'cause there were too many enemies to take on by myself…"

"Hey," Leo tried to encourage him. "That's why we have THESE babies!" He said proudly, holding up his bazooka, with a grin. "Let's go blow up aliens, yeaaaaaah!"

Charmy just grinned. "Leo, you are one C-R-A-Z-Y guy!" And he continued to pursuit him. They kept running for a while until they came to a clearing with a lot of aliens… and what looked to be like some toxic stream.

"Man, there's a lot of them! There's no way I can take them on by myself, either…"

"What do we do?" Asked Charmy. "That last top secret disc is at the end of the that toxic stream, but he can't swim in it, or we'll die, and we DEFINETALLY can't ask those aliens for help or we'll die, too."

"Let me think, let me think…" Leo thought for a little while, then he saw some sort of saucer. There were a few of them, he watched one of the aliens get on one of them, and was able to ride it one top of the toxic stream. "Okay, Charmy, listen to me very closely, alright?" Charmy nodded with an 'uh-huh'. "Okay, it looks like I'll at least be able to go along that toxic waste stream with one of those saucer things. Our other problem is, however, that we have to distract those aliens, so that way we can grab the saucer, and get out of there in…" Leo turned around to look at Charmy to make sure he was paying attention, but he wasn't even there!? "What?! Chamy? Charmy?!"

"Yoo- hooooo! Hey, you creepy black aliens! Over hear!" Charmy said playfully.

"AAAAAAAAAH!!!!" Leo screamed. "CHARMY, WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?!?!"

Charmy kept taunting the aliens, and seemed to actually be getting their attention. "Nyah, nyah! Bet ya wanna try and catch me, huh? Well, guess what? You can't do that 'cause I'm up here!" Charmy did multiple loops in the air, and winked at Leo when all of the aliens eyes were on Charmy. Leo got the message, and dashed toward the saucer and got on it. Charmy then followed Leo and flew right beside him. "We sure fooled them, didn't we?"

"Ha ha! We sure did! Now we've just gotta go down this river and… WOAH!!" Leo leaned to the right, narrowly dodging a laser hitting him. There were more aliens coming towards them on saucers! _'Oh crap… there were more of them! Okay, let's see, they're also on saucers so that must mean that the toxic stream can harm them, so maybe if I just bump them a bit, they'll just fall right in and that'll be the end of them!'_

"Charmy, we need to bump those guys over there off the their saucers and into the stream, but I need your help… I don't quite know how to control this thing yet…! Woah!" Leo nearly hit a fence that was in the middle of the stream that time. Charmy nodded.

"Okay, just try not to crash too much, okay? This looks too much fun!"

"I'll t-tryyy…! Holy crap!" Leo just dodged a huge boulder that time. Leo panted lightly. "Easier said than done, Charmy… I just don't think I can do it. Okay, new plan! We go straight, dodge them and hope we don't crash into anything!!" Leo declared, sweating heavily. "ALRIGHT! HERE WE GO!!" Leo said boldly and dashed forward as fast as he could. Luckily, the current of the stream was able to push it forward, giving it more speed, however, it wasn't really all that fast. Leo was able to dodge some of the aliens, but completely crashed into one of them, almost knocking himself off, but was able to whack it with his bazooka on the head and fall into the stream.

"Hang on, Leo! We're almost there!" Charmy encouraged him.

"That's good… except now there are G.U.N. 's robots around here too!" He stated as multiple G.U.N. beetles fired at the aliens, missing Leo and Charmy. "Well, at least they're not mistaking us as the enemy… that's a good thing."

"Aaaah!" Charmy cried. "Leo, look out in front of you!" He pointed.

"Crap!" Leo lifted up his bazooka and put it on lock-on. He steadied his arm and fired at a bat looking alien. A direct hit! "That was close…"

"Oh, oh!" Charmy landed on Leo's head and pointed excitedly. "There it is! See that platform WAAAAAY up there? That's where the final disc is!"

Leo gaped. "All the way up THERE?!? I can't climb THAT high! How am I going to get up…?" Suddenly, much to Leo being distracted, he crashed into the wall, but amazingly wasn't knocked off, or seriously injured, put landed on some metal platform in the middle of the stream. When he landed on it, it make a _'ch-chk'_ sound, as if it were ready to fire. "Huh…?" Before he knew it, he was launched into the air, screaming his head off! **(If you guys have played the Shadow the Hedgehog video game, and have been to this course, you'll know what I'm talking about.) **

"YAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!" Leo screamed.

"WHEEEEEEE!!" Charmy shouted, while riding on Leo's head. He was actually enjoying the ride! (Typical…) Leo bent dropped his bazooka while in the air and bent over and clung to the saucer with both of his hands as Charmy accidentally wrapped his hands around Leo's face, covering his eyes. Leo tried to pry Charmy's hands off, but remembered that he would be sent flying if he did so, so he ignored Charmy. He then felt a 'bump', most likely meaning that they finally landed. Leo took the opportunity to try to tell Charmy to get off, but all that came out was, "Mmmph mmm mmhhh mmph!" Charmy immediately got off. "Sorry."

Leo took one step forward off the disc, slightly tittering, do too the strain of hanging on for dear life. "As death defying that was…" Leo began. "…That was actually kind of fun!" Leo chuckled.

"I know! Wasn't it?! Let's do it again!" Charmy said excitedly.

Leo shook his head, still chuckling. "Heh… you want to do it again? Go back over there and get another disc, I'm staying here. Don't forget what I'm helping you out with!"

Charmy then got a little serious, just a little. "You're right… now let's see…" Charmy began looking around. "That disc should be around here somewhere… ah-ha!" Charmy pointed. "There it is!!" Sure enough, there lied the final top secret disc, on top of a metal box.

"Alright! Finally!" Leo said, totally relieved. He ran up to the box and snatched the final disc, and jumped for joy. "Yessss! We did it! Oh, yeeeaaaaah baby!" He pumped his fists in the air like a maniac. Charmy celebrated by doing multiple flips in the air until he got dizzy. After the two boys cooled down, Leo then turned to Charmy.

"Thanks again, Leo for helping me out! You're a _really_ great guy!" Charmy grinned. Leo grinned back, handing him the disc.

"Hey, no problem, Charmy! You're a pretty cool bee, yourself!"

Charmy took the final disc from him. "Well, I've got to get these to my boss, he's probably wondering what's taking me so long! So… what are you going to do now, Leo?"

Leo's expression changed from joyful, to serious a little serious. "Huh… I've been thinking the same thing, too… I think I should probably go find Ruby."

Charmy tilted his head to the side. "Huh? Oooooh! Is she your…" He leaned closer to Leo's ear. "…Girlfriend?"

Leo froze.

"No!! Of course she isn't! Sheesh… why do people always jump to conclusions whenever I mention her…? God!" Leo sighed. "No, she's just a good friend, and I think she might be in trouble or something."

Charmy's eyes widened. "Trouble? What kind of trouble?"

Leo crossed his arms, thinking. "I'm not positive, but I just know it! But the problem is, I don't really know where she could be… but I have a hunch she could be with Shadow."

"Did you say Shadow?" Charmy asked.

Leo's raised his head. "Yeah. You know him?"

"Yeah! I met him a few months ago! He helped Sonic and the others take down Eggman's weird robot thing!"

"_Huh?_ He helped out Sonic only a few months ago…? Why didn't Ruby and I hear…?"

Charmy then snapped his fingers. "Here's an idea! How about I take you to meet the rest of the Chaotix? If I mention you know Shadow and that you're a friend of mine, Espio and Vector will be willing to help you out!"

"Huh?? Are you serious?!" Leo sounded hopeful.

Charmy nodded. "Yes-sir-ee! You see, Espio, Vector and I are detectives! The Chaotix Detectives, at your service!"

"Detectives, huh?" Leo said, interested. "Alright! I'd like to meet them if you say they can help me out!"

"Okay, follow me!" Charmy then took off in another direction. With fire in his soul, Leo charged in the direction Charmy was heading.

'I hope these guys will help me out like Charmy says, and I hope if Ruby really is with Shadow, she'll be alright.

Leo kept his head high, and continued to run ahead.

'_She's fine! I know she is!'_

…

_'...I think.' _

* * *

**S. Kat:**** Oh, boy! Let's hope Ruby really IS alright! **

**Leo:**** She better be… or I'm blaming it on Shadow!! (glares at Shadow with warning eyes)**

**Shadow:**** If that kid got in trouble, it's none of my business, and it's her own faul--- (Amy whacks Shadow on the head with her hammer)**

**Amy:**** Correction: 'If Ruby got in trouble, it is my responsibility to make sure she doesn't get hurt, or Amy is going to hit me even harder!'**

**Shadow:**** (death glare) Grrr…! You little…!**

**S. Kat:**** They'll be NONE of THAT, Blacky! Ahem. Anyway, people, just to let you guys know, tomorrow I'll be going to the beach for a week for vacation. Yay me! So, I won't be back until Friday. I'll try to work on the next chapter when I get back. Until then, PLEEEEEEAAAAASE R&R AND BE NICE! LATER PEOPLES!**


	7. Meet the Chaotix

**S. Kat:**** Hi peoples! I'm back from vacation! Missed me? **

**Leo & Ruby:**** (sarcastically) Why yes. Can't you see we're overflowing with tears?**

**S. Kat:**** …boy, don't **_**I **_**feel loved.**

**Leo & Ruby:**** Kidding!**

**S. Kat:**** …Yeah, you better have been! (gives them nuggies) **

**Leo & Ruby:**** Ow ow ow! Uncle, uncle!**

**Sonic/Disclaimer:**

* * *

Chapter 7- Meet the Chaotix

Shadow's head shot up. "I know that explosion." Shadow bolted to where the explosion had taken place. It was about fifteen minutes ago when Shadow had received an ear screeching 'S.O.S.' call from Ruby. He was still collecting the rings that Tails needed, but he also looked for Ruby as well. Luckily, he was finished. _'Damn it! What kind of trouble did that girl get into now?!'_ Shadow then realized there was some sort of hole in the ground and screeched to a stop. He walked closer to it. It was a nice square shaped that looked a lot like a trap door. _'Guess Ruby must've fallen in. Looks like she's clumsy, too.'_ He stared at the hole for a minute. _'I don't hear another explosion… did she stop?'_ He took one step forward and fell into the hole, dropping to the bottom…

_At that exact same moment…_

"…I missed." I muttered. I was still in the same position when I fired. I was only able to blow off half of his mustache. He stood there, trembling like a coward, which I was pretty surprised too… or he could've just have been surprised.

"Wh-wh-wh…" He said, still trembling. His hand went over to his left side to feel for his mustache. When he realized it wasn't there, he shouted, "WHAT THE HELL HAVE YOU DONE TO MY MUSTACHE?!?!"

"I JUST SHOT AT YOU AND **THAT'S **WHAT YOU'RE SO WORRIED ABOUT?! YOU'RE LUCKY I'M NOT THAT GOOD WITH MY AIM, YOU LUCKY EGGHEAD!!" I shouted back.

"You little…" Eggman began. His whole face started to turn red! It probably was from both anger and embarrassment. "You will pay! Let's see if you enjoy a hundred bullets penetrating your body?! Open fire!!" The robots took aim, and were about to fire! I closed my eyes in terror. _'Oh no… Shadow!'_

I waited for the painful impact. Nothing happened. _'Huh…?' _I slowly opened one eye. I looked around me to see that all of the robots had been either knocked down or torn to pieces! _'Did __**I **__do that??' _I noticed that there was a figure standing right in front of me, holding what I believed to be a Semi-Auto Rifle (Not saying I'm a gun savvy, mind you. That's Leo's thing.) And, being the genius I am, I could easily tell it was Shadow. Lucky me, once _again_. I was sure getting saved a lot, and by just _one_ hedgehog! Then again, I was probably way over my head now. "Sh-Shadow."

"…oh…" Eggman muttered. "Shadow! So good to see you!" He tried to act merrily. "I was just playing a little sporting game with Ruby here! Heh heh." Shadow had his back turned towards me, but I could tell he was glaring at Eggman, **hard.**

"Ruby." Shadow began, still not looking at me. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but Eggman just attempted to fire at you, correct?" He said sinisterly.

"Y-yes... after I took off some of his mustache with my Chaos Gunshot." I replied, uncertain on what Shadow planned to do to the Doctor.

"So, you attempted to escape by using the Gunshot, missed, and he tried to shoot you in retaliation?"

"It… looks like it."

Shadow was silent for a moment, before turning his head slowly towards me and said annoyed. "Are. You. Kidding. Me? He was a good three feet from you and you **missed??** That's pathetic!"

"Excuse me?!? Did you just come to save me just so you could lecture me?!" I shouted as I stomped over to Shadow with my fists clenched by my side.

"No, I came to save your damned self, because you're obviously not quite ready to defend yourself in a situation like this, and you suck when you're trying to shoot your enemy at a close range!!" Shadow shot back.

"Well, I'm not that good with a gun, even if it is my Chaos Gunshot! And weren't guns made for mostly**_ long_** ranged attacks anyhow?!" He did have a point. I could feel my face growing red with embarrassment.

"That may be true, but if you're so bad with guns, I find it ironic that you have an attack called 'Chaos Gunshot', idiot!"

"Sh-shut it!"

"Did **you** just tell me to 'Shut it', brat?!" Shadow snapped in a warning tone. Oddly, I didn't flinch this time. I actually felt kind of… bold. Or out of my mind.

"Yes, I did, or didn't you hear me, **blacky**?!?"

"You--!" Shadow was about to shout at me again, but… something stopped him. It's hard to describe… he just stopped, and he almost looked like as if he'd seen a ghost.

_--Shadow's Flashback—_

"…_That wasn't nice." Shadow stated._

"_Well, Eggman isn't a nice person himself." I corrected him. "You know what they say, 'nice gets nice, and nasty gets nasty back!' "_

"_And you are the one to enforce that rule?" He amused, with a cocky smile._

"_Yes-- I mean-- it's not really a rule—I'm not—" I stuttered. Darn. Looks like he won this battle… but not the war! "__**Blacky."**__ I murmured._

"_Brat." He shot back._

"_WHAT!" I shouted. I was outraged. 'Did he just…!' I stood up and slammed my hands on the table. "YOU __**JERK**__! I __**KNOW**__ YOU DID NOT JUST CALL ME A—!"_

_--End of Flashback—_

Shadow hand touched his head lightly, looking a little dazed.

I stared at him. "Shadow…?" I whispered. "Are you alright?"

Shadow winced. "I'm fine… we'll continue this argument later." He turned back to Eggman… who appeared to be half way out the door. "Hold it, doctor." Shadow ran and stood in the pathway of the doctor. Eggman reeled back, looking nervous. "I have some questions for you, I believe you have a pretty good idea on what they are." He began.

"Now, now, Shadow… let's not get hasty." Eggman said, trying to calm him down.

'_Is the reason why Shadow was so angry before was because of me, or because Eggman almost killed me for a second there? I sure hope it wasn't me…'_ I thought, silently. _'And what was wrong with him a second there? He looked like he was sick or something…'_

"Besides, I'm a very busy man, and I have many things to do… can't this wait?"

Shadow loaded his gun, which made a clicking noise.

"Wait! Alright, I'll talk, I'll talk!"

"That's better." Shadow lowered his gun.

'_Man, I can't believe I just had an argument with someone that scary!'_

"First, tell me what you know about those black creatures that came here."

"Eh? You mean those aliens? _That's_ what you came to ask me about?" He asked.

"Yes, start talking." Shadow warned.

_'Huh? I thought Shadow was going to interrogate him about his past! Don't tell me that he still doesn't think Eggman did it?!'_

"Hmm… to tell you the truth, I know just about as much as you do. I really don't know the full story on them, who they truly are, or where they came from… but I believe they are called **'The Black Arms**'. And apparently, or rather, obviously, they want to take over the world."

I shivered. "Yikes! It's just like one of those old alien movies, but this one's actually real!"

"Bingo. And that's how it's going to turn out… if we do not do something about it! I 'borrowed' Sonic's rings to use it's energy for a new weapon I was working on that would have probably destroyed some of the alien--"

"Wait, wait, wait." I interrupted him. "Tails said that you used the rings to build this whole theme park… he didn't say anything about a weapon." I was getting suspicious again.

Eggman sighed. "Yes, and I was going to use the ones left over to build the weapon, but you two had to meddle and take them away."

"Uh, don't you mean, _'Give them back to their right owner'_?" I corrected him. Eggman stared at me.

"…Well, you certainly have gotten bolder, I'm surprised."

"…eh? What's that supposed to mean?"

Eggman ignored me. "Sorry, but that's all I really know. It would be more helpful if you two could give me some information."

"Sorry, but like you said," Shadow took out his Chaos Emerald, "We only know as much as you do. We'll be going now." He stated plainly. The Chaos Emerald started to glow.

"Are you, now?" Eggman asked. "Hmph… well, it's not like I'm going to stop you, Ruby demolished the main computer when she tried to shoot at me." He grumbled. I looked at the hole in the wall that I created. Apparently, there was a room that had the computer in it. Maybe it was a good thing I had 'missed' after all. "But, don't worry, I'm sure we'll meet again." He said, with his usually evil smirk.

"Yes, we will." Shadow said, before teleporting both of us to a different destination.

Now that I thought about it, it could've been possible to determine if Eggman had not something to do with taking Shadow's memory. But… I suppose only time would tell.

_With Leo…_

It seemed to be forever that Leo and Charmy were walking down a narrow hallway. "Charmy, are you sure this is the right way??" Leo asked for the fifth time. "We've been walking for about a half-hour, and I still don't see anyone. Are you sure you're team is still here?"

"Don't worry, they're in here!" Charmy said with his giddy tone, as usual. "This base is just so huge, I sort of forgotten the way… but I'm almost positive this is the right way!"

"You've said that for the past half-hour, too…" Leo mumbled. "Anyways, how many of you are there again?"

"Just me, Espio, and Vector."

"HUH?" Leo gaped. "There are only THREE of you?! I thought there'd be more!"

"Nope!" Charmy grinned. "Just us three!"

_'…Ruby, I'm so sorry, I have hired complete armatures!'_ Leo thought sorrowfully. Charmy then stopped flying.

"Here we are!" There was a huge metal door right in front of them.

Leo whistled. "Wow, you guys sure must be something to have a base like this."

Charmy tilted his head. "Huh? Base? Oh, this isn't our base! This is Eggman's!"

"WHAT?!" Leo cried, flabbergasted. "If this isn't your base, WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU GUYS DOING HERE???!!!!"

_'NOOOO! I DIDN'T HIRE AMATURES! I'VE HIRED NOOBS!!!'_

"Uh, sorry, but I can't tell you that. It's top secret." Charmy sweat dropped.

"Huh…? 'Top Secret'?" Leo asked, as the metal door slid open without them even noticing.

"CHARMY! MOVE OUT OF THE WAY!!" Cried a harsh voice.

Leo and Charmy shot up, "Wha--?!"

Suddenly, ten [ninja knives were flung at Leo, and he was pinned against the wall. Luckily, none of them hit any vital organs, or scratched him seriously. Leo just stayed there, pinned to the wall, not sure what exactly just happened. "Ah!! Get me—" Suddenly, at that very second, he could feel cool metal against his throat, that had a sharp tip. He could see a knife being held to his throat, but the knife appeared to have no owner! There was only a deep voice, hissing,

"Who are you? Identify yourself, or there will be severe consequences we be severe!" The voice threatened.

"W-w-w-wait just a minute! I'm not an enemy!" Leo started sweating as if it was the middle of the summer. He still didn't know who in the world he was talking to.

"Espio! It's true! He's not, really! That's Leo, he helped me gather the top secret discs! And he knows Shadow!" Charmy tried to explain.

_'Who's he talking to?'_ Leo wondered. He could feel the knife being brought down slowly from his neck.

"Is that so…?" Leo still couldn't see the 'person', but he could feel as if he was glaring right at him. "My apologizes then." The figure then put away his knife. The figure then started to become visible, as if a mist had cleared, and there stood a purple chameleon._ 'Woah, cool! Is he some kind of ninja or something?'_ Thought Leo, clearly impressed. "Sorry, we thought you might have been one of Dr. Eggman's assassins. We had to take special precautions." He apologized, as he pulled the knives out of the wall, which had Leo pinned to it.

Once Leo was released. He cracked his neck and replied, "Ah, no biggy. It's cool, I understand. Sorry for startling you, if I did.

"Since you helped out Charmy, it's not a problem." He spoke, quiet respectively, actually.

"Espio! What's the hold up? Is Charmy back, yet?!" A voice called, from the room the metal door was concealing.

"Yes," Espio answered, "and apparently, he's found an ally."

"Huh? He has??" A crocodile, wearing a gold chain around his neck and headphones walked towards them.

"ACK!! CROCODILE!!" Leo jumped back.

Vector looked around. "Crocodile? What crocodile? I don't see no croc!"

"Vector, I think he was referring to you." Espio sweat dropped.

"I knew that! I was just teasing him." Vector growled.

Leo felt a little insulted. "Hey, it's not nice to tease someone who just helped you guys out…" He mumbled.

"He's got a point, Vector…" Espio pointed out.

"Heh… alright, alright." Vector sighed. "Well, then, let us introduce our selves. I'm Vector, the head honcho of the team."

"Espio, at your service." The chameleon said as he bowed.

"And of course, I'm Charmy Bee! And the three of us make up the Chaotix!" Charmy replied happily.

"Uh, cool." Leo said, monotone. (I don't think he was quiet impressed with the introductions…) "I'm Leo Richards. Nice to meet you. Um, I know this might be kind of sudden of me, but, I was wondering if you guys could help me out with something."

The three of them looked at each other, nodded then look back at Leo. Vector grinned, and said, "Well, seeing as you helped out Charmy, here, I guess it'd be only fair…"

Leo felt a small speck of hope. "Really?! You guys rule! Thank you!"

Espio folded his arms though, not looking pleased, "However… we're at a small dilemma…"

"Huh?"

Vector also folded his arms, looking a little defeat. "Let me explain. Well, as I'm sure you're aware of, this is Dr. Eggman's base. We needed to get some information from that computer," He pointed to a semi-large computer, "over there. And don't ask why, either! And we're really running out of time!"

Leo thought for a moment. "Sounds like you guys need a computer expert. Well, Team Chaotix, today is your lucky day! I happen to be an expert when it comes to computers!" Leo smirked confidently.

The trio stared at Leo, with questioning looks. "Are you serious?" Asked Vector. "No offence, but, you're… what, ten… eleven…?"

"I'm twelve years old."

"…Twelve! But, you're a twelve year old kid! And this computer was made by one of the most ingenious… sorry, crazy ingenious minds, and he has and IQ of over 300. How do you expect to--?"

Leo raised his hand. "Vector, Vector, Vector…" He shook his head. "You shouldn't judge a book by it's cover." He started to walk over to the computer, the Chaotix followed him, slightly curious. "Now, I'll admit, I'm definitely not as smart as Egghead. BUT, I know thing or two about computers. And one of my specialties is **hacking**."

Vector thought for a moment and closed his eyes. "Well, seeing as none of us have any data retrieval skills… YOU'RE HIRED!" He said had he snapped his eyes open and gave Leo a thumbs up.

"Cool!" Leo cracked his fingers. "Just sit back watch the magic!" Leo sat down in the chair and got right to work. As he was working, a message appeared on the screen.

"**You have not entered the user's data. Please put in user's data if you wish to continue."**

Charmy sat on his shoulder looking at the screen. "What does that mean?"

"Oh, quite simple really, it just means you have to put in the password. But, I'm sure guys already know it, right?" Leo joked.

Silence filled the room.

"You… DO know the password, RIGHT??" Leo asked again.

They gave him a nervous smile. "Well, uh, you see…" Vector began, "We didn't think it'd be this hard, so we didn't think much about a password… eh heh heh."

Leo rested his head in his hand. "Great." He sighed. "Well, the only thing I can think of that we can do is to try to figure out the password."

"Let's hope it won't be too tough." Said Espio.

"Oh, c'mon…! This is Eggman we're talking about, I'm sure I can't be that hard!" Leo grinned.

"What do you mean by that?" Asked Espio. "You seem almost as if you know him."

"Heh." Leo laughed, confidently. "Yeah, in a nutshell, my friend Ruby and I have met Eggman before, and also…" Leo continued to explain, "You see, Ruby's aunt works for the government, and my friend and I have been in one of G.U.N. bases because… well, that's a whole other story. Anyway, the point is that I got to learn a lot about computers while I was there, and in one the their training sessions to train new soldiers, was how to hack, and they used an old file that was originally made by Dr. Eggman, that the government stole. It didn't have anything TOO important, but it was good practice for the other soldiers, and I remember watching them trying to hack it and what they did. So if they were able to crack it, so can I!"

"Hmm… sounds like a good enough logic. Now we just have to brain storm." Espio thought out loud.

They all thought in silence for a moment.

Leo took a deep breath. "Well, here goes nothing!" He started typing something up onto the computer. "E-G-G-M-A-N… E-M-P-I-R-E. Eggman Empire." And he hit enter, as he waited for the computer to down load…

"**Password, correct."**

"Yes!" Leo clenched his fist. Just then, the computer replied, **"Access to cyber space is now being initiated in 3… 2… 1…"**

"Huh?" They all said.

The platform next to the computer started to make a weird noise and a few seconds later, a strange yellow-golden ball appeared.

"Wo-ah!" Cried Vector.

"Coool!" Charmy agreed.

"I guess… I did it!" Leo said, smilling. He got up to examine the large, glowing orb. "But… I don't know what I did…"

"It's some kind of portal that leads into cyber space. I suppose this is how we'll get our information that we need; by going in there and getting it our self." Espio explained. "Anyway, thanks for your help Leo, we probably couldn't have done it with out you. We are in your dept." Espio bowed.

"Yeah, 'cause knowing Espio, by the time HE would've cracked it, he'd be an old man! Ha ha ha ha!" Charmy laughed.

"Hey! Back off, Charmy!" Espio glared at Charmy. Charmy just giggled.

Leo stepped closer to the orb, to get a closer look. He stuck a hand into, just checking it out. Reasonable thing to do right? Wrong. He then was sucked into it almost after he made contacted with it! "WOAH--!" Leo disappeared in a blink of an eye.

The rest of them stared in awe, as if saying, _'What the heck just happened??'_

Vector was the first to speak. "That was… err, interesting…" He shook his head, regaining focus. "Okay, we can't leave him in there by himself, and Espio," he turned to face him, "you've got work to do! So get going! We're countin' on ya!" Vector put a hand on Espio's shoulder.

Espio nodded. "Roger that." He replied as he was about to leap into the orb.

"Espio, hold up a sec!" Charmy cried out. Espio stopped in his tracks. "Could you see if you can help Leo find this Ruby person while you're at it? That's the reason why he came to us for help!"

"Ah, I see. Alright, I'll do what I can." Espio said before disappearing into the large orb as well. And then, the orb itself disappeared, along with the two, who were now in Cyber Space!

* * *

**S. Kat:**** Whew! Done with another one! Well, what do you guys think? Is this story getting more interesting so far? And also, just letting you guys know, I'm starting 'Band Camp' on Monday, and I have to practice from 8 o'clock in the morning 'til 4 o'clock in the afternoon! I'm not kidding! (T.T) So, I'll just try to update when I can, but I just won't have as much time as usual… rats. But, I'll try what I've been doing lately and update every 1-2 weeks. I've been doing that A LOT lately…! (shock) Before, I would try to update, like, specifically once every week, and freak out if I updated a day late! (lol) But, this year I'm a little more laid back, and now I just like to take my time updating. I'm still having fun… I'm just not stressing my self out any more. (lol, again) Oh… and… the worst part of my news is… I START SCHOOL ON THE 27****TH****!!!!! WAAAAAAH!! NOOOOOO!! (cries)**

**Ruby, Amy, & Cream:**** You poor thing!! (hugs)**

**S. Kat:**** (sniff) …Thank you. But, it's not a total lost. It's going to be my second year of high school, so I'm excited. And I'll get to see my friends again, so that's cool, too! It's going to be hard work with my school work and fanfiction and all, but in my house, 'School work comes first.' But DON'T WORRY PEOPLES!!! I will update whenever I can. There is NO WAY I'm going to drop this story! But, that's enough of me rambling. You've all been a very good audience, and I appreciate all of the comments, advice, and support you've given me. Thank you! **

**Rouge:**** My, my. S. Kat sure was talkative today. **

**S. Kat:**** (sweat drops) Yeah, I know. Heh heh. Anyway, thanks for listening to me ramble, peoples. And you should know by now…**

**PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE PLEEEEEEEEASE REVIEW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thank you and have a nice day, peoples!**


	8. The Bat is Back!

**S. Kat:**** Yo! How's everyone doing today? Here's another chapter of Shadowed Past, so enjoy, guys!**

**Knuckles/Disclaimer:**** Huh. Guess I'm doing the disclaimer this time. Okay, then, saphireKat doesn't own any of the Sonic characters. She owns Ruby and Leo. Now, READ THE STINKIN' CHAPTER!! OR I'LL PUMMEL YA!! **

**S. Kat: We're trying to make them read the story, not scare them off, Knuckles!**

* * *

Chapter 8- The Bat is Back!

Shadow and I landed on something wet and damp. When my feet touched the ground, I looked around carefully. We were in the middle of a rain forest! The canopy above blocked the view of the sun light, but I was pretty sure it was almost dawn… almost dawn?! Time was going by too fast! I still had to find Leo! Who knows WHAT could've happened to him! But first… for some reason, I felt like I had to apologize to Shadow, for going through the trouble of saving me.

"Um, Shadow—"

"Are you alright?" Shadow cut me off.

I looked at him with a totally blank expression. "Huh?" Okaaaaay… weird, very weird. I thought the first thing that he'd do was yell at me for being a pain and having him come save me again.

"Do I **need** to repeat myself?" Shadow sighed annoyed.

"No… it's… nothing. Yes, I'm fine." I finally answered.

"And you still have the Chaos Emerald?" Gee, what a surprise he asked me that.

I sighed. "Yeah, I do." I took the emerald out of my pocket. "You want it back?"

"Yeah, seeing as how you still get into trouble even when you actually have a Chaos Emerald in your possession." He said as he snatched it away from me.

"It's not like it's _my_ fault. I guess I'm just not the fighting type." I smiled, unconfidently. "Guess I really am useless in battle, huh? I can't believe I got caught in a…"

"You're only half wrong. You're not 'useless', maybe…" I stared at him, hopeful. Did he just give me a complement?! "…But you seriously need to learn how to fight, and how to not hold back, no matter what." Shadow turned to me with a serious look. "You hesitated when you shot at Eggman, didn't you?"

I didn't respond right away, I only crossed my hands and looked the other way, ashamed. I _did_ hesitate. But for what reason? Eggman was someone whom I truly loathed. But… I couldn't kill him. I could _never_ kill anyone, no matter how much I hated them. But, Shadow on the other hand… well. He was the complete opposite. But… was it right for me to feel that way? Did that make me a weakling? Did it?

"That's what I thought." He sighed. "I'm not talking about the fact the fact that you didn't _kill_ him…"

"Eh heh heh…" I laughed nervously at his comment. "Over exaggerating, aren't we?"

He ignored me. "But if you keep hesitating like that, you'll end up **dead**. Do you understand?" Shadow glared at me.

"I… do. But…" I sniffed, feeling like a dimwit. Shadow seemed somewhat startled by my tears.

"Ah, damn it!" He rubbed his temples. "It's nothing to cry about! I'm just trying to tell you the facts of being a weakling." Suddenly, as I was drying my tears, I heard a big 'WHAM!' I looked up, to see that Shadow was lying face down on the ground.

"Shadow?!" I exclaimed, alarmed by what just happened. He had a pretty big bump on the back of his head, and he seemed kind of infuriated.

"The only fact **here**, is that you don't know how to treat a lady properly!" A woman's voice scoffed. "Especially if it's a _young_ lady, **blacky**."

'_Holy crap… no way. No freaking way!'_

I quickly wiped away my tears. That voice belonged to one of the best gem possessed treasure hunters in the world! "Rouge!" I literally jumped over Shadow, who was still very pissed and lying on the ground, and hugged Rouge.

"Woah! _Someone_ missed me." Rouge joked.

I pulled away from the reunion hug. "Where the heck have you been for the past three months?!? Off searching for stupid treasure, _again_?!" I scolded.

Rouge seemed insulted by that. " 'Stupid treasure?!?!' Excuse me?!"

"I haven't seen you in the past three months now! And my aunt hasn't seen you in the past two and a half months!! And you also didn't call at all to tell me that Shadow was alive!!"

"…oh…" Rouge smiled weakly. "_That's_ why you're so angry with me…? Well, yeah… like I said, there was this treasure, and if I didn't jump on it at the opportunity moment, I would've missed out."

"YOU WOULD'VE 'MISSED OUT'?!" I was shouting _very _loudly now. "_THAT'S_ YOUR EXCUSE?! I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU, ROUGE!!" I turned around and crossed my arms, infuriated. I mean, how could she?!

Rouge sighed, then put her hand behind her back. "Here." She said. I turned around. My eyes widened. She was holding a necklace with a beautiful ruby. It was about half an inch big, it was _gorgeous._ "I got this for you as a souvenir and an apology gift for 'Sorry for leaving you in the dark about Shadow and that I haven't seen you in three months.' Forgive me now?"

I stared at the necklace, wide eyed and mouth open. "…Is that real?"

"Of course."

"Really, really, real, real?"

"Uh-huh."

"And I can have it?"

"Yep."

"Thank you! I love you!" I squealed as I hugged Rouge, but with more force this time.

"Oh, geez. You're welcome already!" She giggled. "Now get off, you're crushing my wings."

I released Rouge, and holding the necklace in my hands. I felt like a six-year-old who just gotten a bicycle for her birthday. I stood there, staring at the necklace, giggling like a silly-head. "Mwe hee hee…!"

Shadow, who had already gotten off of the ground groaned. "Are all women obsessed with useless shiny objects or just the ones that I know?" He grumbled.

"Heh heh…" I blushed from slight embarrassment. I quickly clipped the chain around my neck and posed like a fashion model. "How do I look? Stunning, am I not?" I teased.

Rouge had to laugh at that. "Yes, you do. But not nearly as stunning as _me_, sorry to say." I giggled back.

"Are you two _done_ yet?!" Shadow grumbled.

Rouge sassily put her hands on her hips. "Hmph. Well, sorry for wasting your time, _sunshine_. What's the hurry, anyway? And more importantly, what are you two doing in this jungle?"

"Oh, well, um…" I began to answer.

"That's our own business." Shadow answered coldly, and then added, "Don't go telling every single person our business, Ruby."

"O-okay…!"

Rouge sighed. "Alright, fine. I'm just wondering because it's certainly _coincidental _that you two are here, especially at a time like this."

That caught Shadow and my attention. "What's that supposed to mean?" Shadow questioned, and seemed to be slightly curious.

"Well, I'll get to the point. G.U.N. is here in this forest to drive out those black aliens. And there's quite a number of them, so I could really use the help."

"…huh. So they _are_ here." Shadow mumbled.

I thought for a moment. _'If the black aliens are in this forest, than that must mean…'_ I spoke up. "Rouge," she turned towards me. "Hmm?" She replied. I continued, "Is there a chance that a Chaos Emerald is in this forest, too? I think maybe that's why they're here."

Rouge raised a brow. "Well… it _was_ classified information that there is a Chaos Emerald here, but, it does make sense."

I turned towards Shadow. "Shadow, since Rouge is one of our allies and since a Chaos Emerald is involved, I think we should help out."

"I figured you'd say that…" Shadow replied. "What is with you and doing good deeds?"

"I just want to do what's right, and don't forget I'm _helping_ you, too! After all, you said that finding the Chaos Emeralds—"

"Ruby, DUCK!" Shadow shouted.

"Wha--?!" I was confused, but I obeyed him and ducked immediately. Shadow had gone into his ball mode and taken down an alien, that was right behind me. _'Dang…! Is it just me, or am I experiencing too many close calls today?'_ I got up, and watched as Shadow defeat the alien. Rouge quickly glided to my side.

"You alright?"

I nodded. "Uh-huh."

I heard a low growl from behind me. _'Oh crap!'_ I whirled around. Another alien! "Ack! Rouge…! Alien at six o'clock!"

"I'm on it." She said slyly. She jumped in the air, where she was about to the alien's head and gave him a spiral kick. The monster flew backwards into the swamp.

"Nice one, Rouge!" I had no time to give her a high-five, though. ANOTHER alien was coming at me from my right. This time, I decided to react. I quickly jumped out of the way. When I landed, I noticed a big stick that I was standing on. As I gazed at it, I thought, _'Not that sturdy, but this'll have to do.'_ I quickly grabbed it, and dashed toward the alien. I used the end of it to knock its head up! It stumbled backwards, losing its balance, almost falling into the marsh. I then casually walked up to it, and poked it with the stick and watch it fall into the swamp like the one before it. I straighten up, feeling very good about myself. "Hee hee!"

Rouge looked at me with amusement. "Heh. Nice one, yourself, kiddo. Did your aunt teach you that one?"

"Yep! She sure did!" I grinned.

"Well, it's really something. You're like a different girl from the old Ruby."

"Heh, thanks, I think. But I'm not that different at all, Rouge." I said. "I just got some more skills added to my stats, that's all."

"Hmm…" Rouge wondered.

" 'Hmm…' what?" I asked her.

"Oh, nothing." She shrugged. She looked around for Shadow. "Seems like Shady's gone ahead. Let's get going." She then took off about ten feet into the air. I ran right below her to catch up with the aliens.

After running for a while, like any human, I began to lose my breath. My legs felt heavy, my stomach ached and I felt light headed. _'How… come I'm getting tired…? I'm just so… weak all of a sudden…I feel like I'm going to collapse… I feel sick…' _I suddenly tripped over my own feet and fell onto the damp forest floor. _'Wh…What's going on with me all of a sudden…? I was fine a little while ago… but now I guess that all of the things I've been doing today has come back to bit me in the neck…'_ I could barely hear Rouge's voice.

"Ruby?" Her voice called out in alarm. "Hey! What's the matter with you are you alright?! Ruby!"

I lied there, motionless. I was just too tired. I slowly closed my eyes. I needed to rest. _'In a minute Rouge… I just need to close my eyes… for a minute… that's all that I need…'_

_Who knows how much longer later…_

"…damn it, Shadow! What's taking you so long!?" I heard someone curse. I think it was most likely Rouge.

I didn't feel like opening my eyes. I just wanted to sleep more_. 'I have school in the morning… wait.'_ Suddenly everything that happened the day before came back to me in a flash. And I realized I was lying on a cold, rock floor. "Oh!" I sat up so fast that my head spun. Then I fell back down on my back. "Ow!" I heard footsteps, high heels, to be exact, walking towards me.

"Have you awaken, your highness?" Rouge asked me casually.

"Uh… yes?" I said, rubbing my head. "Jeez… what happened?"

"Don't worry, you'll be fine." She reassured me. "You just collapsed from using your energy, mostly using your Chaos Control and your Chaos Gunshot too much at once. It was bound to happen eventually."

"Mm…" I thought about it. She was right, each time I was using it, I felt even more tired than before. "Wait a second. Since when did I tell you about the Gunshot?"

"Shadow told me all about it." She sighed. "Honestly, if you developed a new power, I think he should've warned you not to use it too much ahead of time." She shook her head. "Well, now at least you know, so try not to use it to the point where you'll collapse, okay, sweetie?"

I smiled then nodded. "Okay."

Rouge smirked back, with her slightly sassy smile she always had. "Oh, by the way…" She reached behind her back and pulled out two oval, orange-ish fruit. "Here," she tossed both towards me, and I caught them both. "You must be hungry, eat up, those things are delicious."

Boy, was I glad to see food again. "Thanks!" I started chowing down on them. I had no idea what kind they were, but Rouge was right, they _were_ delicious. As I was chomping on them I noticed Shadow wasn't here. And I also noticed we appeared to be in some kind of old temple. The walls were covered in vines and there were some old carvings on the wall. "Say, Rouge," I began, with my mouth full. I quickly swallowed and continued, "Where's Shadow?"

"The heck if _I_ know. He said he had to take care of something…"

"Which would be…?" I asked as I bit off the last of my fruit.

"I just said I don't know."

"…"

"Want to go find out?"

"Huh??" Did I hear her right?

"I said, 'Want to go find out?'" She repeated herself. "If you ask me, he's been gone way too long, I smell something fishy."

"Hmm. You might have point, but I wonder what…" Then, Shadow's words came into my mind.

"…_huh. So they __**are**__ here."_

My eyes widened. "Oh no."

"Eh? What's wrong?" Rouge cocked an eyebrow.

"I think Shadow might be trying to follow those aliens to get his answers." I stood up. "C'mon, Rouge! We've got to go now!" I ran right out of the temple.

"Wha--?! Come on! Wait up! What the heck are you talking about?!" Rouge called out, gliding to catch up with me.

I tried to explain to Rouge as best as I could while panting. "He's gathering the emeralds… (pant) because he think that… (pant) they could be the secret to his past! And…(pant) he said he wanted to know more about those aliens!"

"And knowing Shadow, that'll mean he'll do whatever it takes, even if it's something only he believes in." Rouge concluded.

"Yeah," I replied, panting. "But I'm afraid that Shadow might do something really reckless or he might do something else, but I can't be too sure!"

Rouge looked like she was about to say something else, but then, here walky-talky, which was on her wrist turned on. **"Agent Rouge! Come in! This is **_**Mud Dog 259**_**! Do you copy?!"**

I halted to a stop and Rouge gracefully landed on the ground. "Agent Rouge, here. What's your status, _Mud Dog 259_? Any sign of the Chaos Emerald or those black creatures?"

"**Negative! We've just spotted, Shadow the Hedgehog!"** My heart thumped when I heard how alarming the soldier's voice was on the walky-talky. **"Our orders were to capture him, dead or alive, by the Commander himself!"**

"What?!" Rouge and I exclaim at the same time. "Why does the Commander want to capture Shadow? Does he think he's the enemy here?!"I asked Rouge.

She made a hushing noise and continued to talk into the walky-talky. "Listen, _Mud Dog_, you were placed under _my_ authority, so authority is to stand down and DO NOT attack the hedgehog! Do you copy?"

"**Negative, we had ORDERS from the Commander, like I said before. Mud Dog 259, over and out!"** And the walky-talky went off.

"Shoot!" Rouge looked a little worried now. "Ruby, stay here." Rouge commanded me as she took off.

"What??!! But why?!" I shouted.

"Sorry, kiddo, but this might get a little dangerous, be good and _stay put!_" She shouted back as she disappeared behind the jungle.

I groaned. _'NOW what am I supposed to do?' _I crossed my arms. _'What did she __**mean**__, 'this might get a little dangerous'…? Is she concerned for Shadow's sake, or the sake of those soldiers?! H-he might… no, he wouldn't… but he COULD.' _Standing around doing nothing wasn't going to help at all. "Augh! I'm so going to regret this!" I muttered as I took off in the direction Rouge flew. I feared for the worst. Not just for Shadow, but for the soldiers who were _involved_. Shadow would probably defeat anyone who stood in his way! _'Darn it! It'd be so much easier if I had a Chaos Emerald with me! I've got to--'_

The ground started shaking uncontrollably. I was so caught off guard that I fell backwards, landing on my back. "What's going on?! An earthquake?!" Then, almost too abruptly, everything was still again. I sat there, not wanting to jinx it. "…Is that it…?" I whispered to myself.

For some reason, I didn't think it was an earthquake. And… I was also getting that bone chilling feeling down my spine. _'Something 'big' just happened just now.'_ I looked all around me. "It must've been that way!" I decided. I don't know why I was so sure… I just knew. I suppose that's what they call a 'woman's intuition'. Boy, I was sure lucky to be a lady, wasn't I?

"CHAOS SPEAR!!" I heard Shadow's voice cry out. I saw a yellow flash not too far away, too.

"Yep, that's him, alright." I was sure. I guess my woman's intuition was that good.

I was able to see Shadow in a clearing… fighting that same monster that he fought in the city when I saw him again, Black Bull! "What?! A-another one!!" I exclaimed as I screeched to a halt and ducked next to a bush. I peeked to see how the fight was going. Apparently, Rouge was helping out Shadow. That was good. I sighed with relief that they both appeared to be okay, for the moment.

Rouge was flying in dizzying patterns around the monsters head while Shadow was grinding on what appeared to be a railing. My guess was that they were trying to confuse it, then attack. _'Yeah!' _I cheered in my mind. _'Go Shadow and Rouge!!'_

Suddenly, the monster inhaled a large amount of air, and started to spit out fireballs.

And one of them hit Rouge, not dead on, but enough to shoot her out of the air!

"ROUGE!!!" I cried out. Surprisingly, Shadow also cried out her name the same time I had! She hit the ground, and she didn't look like she was getting up. Black Bull inhaled again, ready to finish her off! I couldn't let that happen!

"NOOOOOO!!" I dashed forward, barely thinking straight, but there was no way I could let her die!

My cries didn't even distract Black Bull. I had only one option now.

'_It still might be too early to use the Chaos Gunshot, but it's my only choice!'_

As I was running I gripped my wrist, ready to fire.

'_Dear God…'_ I prayed silently. _'Please let this one hit!'_

"**CHAOS GUNSHOT!!!"**

And then, I fired.

* * *

**S. Kat: ****Gah… I've gotta stop there, sorry, peoples. I've got school TOMORROW and I must go to bed… oh WHY did summer have to end? Why, why, why?! (sighs) Oh well, nothing can last forever. **

**R&R, and REEEVIIIEEEEEEEEW!!! **

**I'll update when I can, I promise!**

**Bye-bye, peoples!**


	9. Leo Takes Over! Literally!

**S. Kat:**** (walks in, dazed and looking weary) Hi…! Wuz… up… peoplessssss…? (collapses)**

**Leo:**** (walks in, and sees motionless body on floor) O.o …**_**saphireKat??!!**_** Hey! (nudges) Are you OK?!**

**S. Kat:**** Zzzzz… **

**Leo:**** …the hell? She's asleep??**

**Ruby:**** (walks in, and smacks Leo on head for swearing) Language! And it's kind of no surprise. She's been really busy with school and stuff, and she's been working her tail off at band practice, too! **

**Leo:**** Hmm. Yeah, you do have a point… but who's going to write the story now?**

**Ruby:**** O.O …oh. (thinks) Yeah… who will?**

**Leo:**** (suddenly jumps on table) HAVE NO FEAR, FOR LEO THE MAIN MAN IS HERE!! (lifts up pencil) **_**I**_** SHALL WRITE THIS CHAPTER!!!**

**Ruby:**** What?! Leo, are you crazy?! This is **_**saphireKat**_**'s story! We can't just go and write what ever we want!**

**Leo:**** No, no, no! We are not writing what ever we want… we're just giving S. Kat a little break! Besides… look at her! Does she look ready to write, now?**

**Ruby:**** (looks at S. Kat, who's still on the floor then back at Leo, defeated) (sighs) I suppose you're right… I guess this one time is not gonna hurt… but, try not to go over board, OK?**

**Leo:**** Yeah, yeah. I won't. Oh, do you mind if I'm the main character this time? I wasn't in the last chapter, so…**

**Ruby:**** Oh, I don't mind, it's only fair. But you might want to say the disclaimer first, Leo.**

**Disclaimer/Leo: Oh, right. Uh, we don't own, Sonic, Shadow, Knuckles, Tails, (goes down the list) or anyone else, alright? Ruby and I, well, we own ourselves. Now read on, my faithful followers!**

* * *

Chapter 9- Leo Takes Over! (Literally!)

"HOLY CRAP, THIS THING GOES FAST!!" I shouted as I was in some kind of… tube, I think. I remembered I got sucked into that weird orb of golden light… and now I was traveling at like, hyper speed through this thing! And, unfortunately, _I couldn't stop it_. It was like I was in a network of some sort… if I was in some kind of computer, I think it'd be a 'link' that I was in, getting one place, to another.

Then, the thing spit me right out! Seriously, I got to the end, and it spat me right out! "Woah!!" I cried as I was in mid air. Luckily, for some reason, I was able to land on my feet. Now, either I had suddenly became an acrobat, or the gravitational field in this 'world' was different from Earth's. _'Ah, whatever,'_ I thought. I looked all around me, and my jaw dropped. I WAS SERIOUSLY INSIDE A COMPUTER'S MAINFRAME!!!

"Oh maaaan…! This is sweeeeeet!" I chuckled. I was living any other computer genius's dream! Being INSIDE a real computer mainframe!

…by myself…

…alone…

…with no known way of getting out…

"…Ah! Damn it!!" I shouted as I finally thought of the possibility that I was stuck here. "Now what?! How am I supposed to get out of here?!" I shouted while clutching my head.

"Hey, Leo." I heard a familiar voice out of nowhere. Maybe I really wasn't the only one in here. Espio then appeared right before me, from nowhere! He must've used that 'disappearing' trick again. "Thanks for your help earlier. Actually, I could use your help again."

'_Woah! I must really be awesome if he wants my help again!'_ I thought, which, I knew it was true.

* * *

**Ruby: Ha! Yeah right! XD**

* * *

"Um, okay, sure! What do you need me to help with?" I asked. 

"Let me try to explain things first," He started. "The reason why we needed you to hack into Dr. Eggman's computer was because we need to extract some data from him, but, to do that, we need to turn off a security tower that is in this mainframe."

"And since I'm the computer expert, you need to know what kind of things to expect, how to avoid them, how to get passwords, that sort of stuff…?" I added.

"Yes."

"Hmm." I crossed my arms. "This would be a little bit more easier if I had a laptop and some computer equipment, though…"

_Tonk!_

"Huh?!" Espio and I said as we looked around. I noticed that a laptop had landed on the ground about ten feet away. "A laptop?" Espio raised a brow. He walked over to it, and picked it up. There was a small yellow sticky note on it, which Espio read out loud,

"_Espio and Leo,_

_Found this in the base, thought Leo could use it to help out you guys. He can keep it too, but don't expect for me to by another one if her breaks it. Now get to work!_

_-Vector"_

"Yes!! A laptop for meeeee! Wooooooh!" I cheered as I _kindly_ took it away from Espio. "This great! We'll get this job done and get out of here in no time!"

"Hmm. You sure have confidence in your abilities, for a child."

"…Should I take that as a compliment, or what?"

"It was meant as a compliment. I apologize."

"S'alright." I cleared my throat. "Okay, so all we have to do is deactivate a tower, so we can get the info, and get out of here?"

"Correct." Espio nodded.

"Alright, lead the way!"

"Roger." Espio replied and dashed off, but just fast enough so I could keep up.

* * *

**Leo:**** So we deactivated all of the towers and got the hell out of there. The End.**

**Ruby:**** WHAT?! C'mon Leo, don't be a rip-off artist! D: **

**Leo:**** But I don't wanna go into every little detail about the whole thing… it's too long! **

**Ruby:**** Meaning…?**

**Leo:**** (sighs) Well, getting into the program with the laptop was a little tough, because there were multiple passwords…**

**Ruby:**** Mm-hmm…**

**Leo:**** And Egghead's robots were crawling all over the place!**

**Ruby:**** Wow! And you made it out alive??**

**Leo:**** Barely. And on top of that… G.U.N. robots were there too, and they mistook us for the enemy!! **

**Ruby:**** WHAT THE HECK?! **

**S. Kat****: (stirs in sleep) Hrmmm… chocolate…. Zzzzzzz… (silently sleeps)**

**Ruby:**** O.O; (whispers) That was close…**

**Leo****: Erk… y-yeah… O.o;**

**Ruby:**_**Anyway**_**, if you're not going to tell them the whole story, at least give them the highlights. **

**Leo: Yeah, alright...**

* * *

Ahem. Well, anyway. In a nutshell, Espio and I were pumbled with all sorts of crap, from robots, to firewalls, stupid protection systems, and did I mention more robots?! Well, when Espio and I got to the first tower, we deactivated it, but discovered that there were three more towers to go to before we could get all of the information Espio needed. The last tower was the toughest, but we got through all right… sort of. 

But, it was really hard to describe… I felt some sort of… _energy_ welling up inside of me, as we were getting closer to finishing our goal. It's kind of strange… I thought it was just excitement and ignored it.

Anyways, after reaching the last tower… something _weird_ happened.

As Espio and I were trying to get to the exit, suddenly, this giant robot dropped right in front of us. "HOLD IT RIGHT THERE!!" A voice demanded. More specifically, _Dr. Egghead—_err…—_Eggman_ demanded.

"Damn, we've been detected!" Espio grumbled.

"Shoot!" I wasn't expecting _this_. "Egghead!"

Egghead shot up. "What how dare you call me that! Who do you think you're—" He stopped as soon as he took a good look at me. "Eh? _Another_ brat? Well, isn't this day getting better and better…" He grumbled. "What are _you_ doing here, Leo?"

"Hold it! You saw Ruby, didn't you?! I knew it!" I declared.

"Humph. What if I did? What would _you_ do about it?"

"I'd make you tell me what you've done to her!"

"Ho ho ho ho ho! What are you going to do, throw the laptop at me?" Egghead laughed.

'_I __**really**__ want to beat his face in…'_ My eye twitched. Espio must have sensed this, because he murmured,

"Leo, try not to let your anger get the best of you. If you let your ego get to you, you'll lose the battle for sure."

My fist tightened up. I didn't want to admit it, but he was right. "Well, still, that doesn't help that Eggman has a very big robot standing in our path…"

"Glad you like it!" Egghead boasted. "It's my latest and greatest invention I like to call the _Eggbreaker_." The robot then lifted it's hand, which had some spiky club in it and swung it towards Espio and my self. Espio did some fancy trick and some how 'transport' us away from Egghead's robot.

"Whoa!" I exclaimed. "That was sweet! How'd you do that?!"

"Practice." Espio answered simply. He turned back to Egghead.

* * *

**Ruby:**** You know, that's like, the 8****th**** time you called him 'Egghead'. You do realize it's really **_**Dr. Eggman**_**, right?**

**Leo:**** Duh! Of course I do! I just like to call him 'Egghead', that's all.**

**Ruby: Just making sure.**

* * *

"Smashing, is it not?" Egghead bragged. "Time to exterminate a few little viruses! Go!" He threw his hand forward and commanded a bunch of his tiny, _Eggpawn _robots after us! 

"Oh, **terrific!**" I groaned. "How are we gonna get out of this one?!"

"In order to defeat a opponent with this many numbers, we should use their numbers against them."

"Okay, that sounds great and all, but how's that going to help us?!?"

"You know how to handle a gun, is that correct?"

"Uh, yeah!"

"Okay then…" Espio jumped into the air and kicked one of the robots down, picked up its gun then jumped back to me. "Use this to take care of the small ones and I'll handle the doctor. Can you do that?"

"Cha, I can do it!" I gave him a thumbs up and grinned. Espio handed me the gun.

"Stay put, and shoot as many as you can, Leo!" He advised me.

'Stay put…'? Man, I didn't really like the idea of that.

…

Well, at least I had my gun!

Anyway, as I was blowing away at the robots Espio tried to take down Eggman. It wasn't easy thought, that's for sure. He threw multiple kunai knives at the robot, but they didn't even leave a scratch! The Eggbreaker—

* * *

**Ruby:**** Bwaaa ha ha ha ha ha ha haaaaa! XD That's so lame!! 'Eggbreaker'? More like the 'Eggscrambler' to me, cuz Eggman's head is that screwed up! Ha ha ha ha ha!**

**Leo:**** --; Yes, I realize it's totally lame, but I'm not the one who came up with that name. And why is it only effecting you now?!**

**Ruby:**** (stops laughing) Because I wasn't paying any attention until now.**

**Leo: ...**

* * *

_**The Eggbreaker**_… suddenly leapt into the air, and came down with its club. It came down so far that I almost fell backwards! 

"Woah!" I gaped amazed. "That thing is pretty powerful!" Then, that's when it hit me. Espio couldn't possibly handle this alone! I had to help! Luckily, the robots were unable to move as well, thanks to Eggman making them all fall down with the shockwave. I aimed the gun at the robot carefully, and took aim as close as I could at him.

That seemed to get his attention.

"WHAT THE DEVIL?!" Eggman roared. His full attention at me now. "You little damn brat!!" The robot reared in my direction. "That's it. Time for you to go into timeout, **for good.**"

"Uh…" I tried to think of what to do next. But, my feet wouldn't even move! _'Crap!_ _Why did I do that?!'_

"LEO!! WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?! GET THE HELL OUT OF HERE!!" Ordered Espio.

"DIE!!" Eggman shouted.

'Run…' 'Die…' 

'_Run…or… die…?'_

'_Run or die?! Those are my only two options?! No way! I'm not going to run away like a little coward or die like one!' _The spark inside that I felt earlier felt like it was turning into a fire… _'Definitely not! I __**will not**__ die here today!!' _I turned towards the robot that was trying to run at me. It jumped in the air, and raised its club. I felt as though the energy inside me was about ready to explode, and I had to let it out! **"I will not die today!!"** I roared. My fist began to have this surge in it. **"Chaos…"** My fist started to glow dark blue color. And I jabbed it forward with a punch. **"Dynamic Fist!!!" **I jammed my fist right into the club, without hitting any of the spikes, and shattered it into tiny, tinny, pieces.

"What…" Eggman gaped as the robot started to fall over on it's back.

"…The hell?!" I also gaped, my hand twitching.

The robot landed on it's back with a loud 'BAM!' I could here Eggman cursing very loudly after he hit the ground. I blinked at what I had just done, then I decided that this would be a great time to get the heck out of here. I pivoted and ran in the opposite direction. And ran forward, past Espio. I probably would've gotten out of there alright, if the stupid robot didn't throw a bomb at me! "Aaaaah!!" It missed me, but it was almost too close of blowing my arm off! I landed, hitting my arm, hard. "Augh!" I shouted in pain. I was bruised all over and my clothes were dirty with ash.

"Leo!!" Espio shouted. "Damn it…!! Stay down!" He just disappeared after that. I looked around in confusion.

"Where did he…?!" The only thing I heard were jamming metal noises and little explosions going off. My guess is that Espio was able to brake inside the robot and take out some very, very important parts. Espio then appeared behind me in a flash.

"There. That was harder than it needed to be." He brushed himself off coolly. "Are you alright?" He said, helping me up.

"I think… my arm is kinda bruised up a little, but I'll live." I held my arm. Espio turned around quickly, looking at something. My arm was too much in pain, so I didn't even pay attention.

"Crap. Eggman might call for reinforcements." Espio stated.

"What?!"

"Leo, you get out of here. You've done enough to help." Espio pulled out multiple knives, ready to throw them. "Besides, you still have to find, Ruby, right? Go towards that exit behind the robot, that should lead for one of Eggman's bases. You'll be able to get out of here, and don't forget your laptop, either, it'll help. Get going!"

I grabbed my laptop and dashed towards the exit link, shouting over my shoulder, "Thanks, Espio! I owe you one!" I got through the exit and—

* * *

**S. Kat:**** (bolts up and hovers over Leo and Ruby with an evil aura) WHAT. ARE. YOU. TWO. DOING. WITH. **_**MY**_**. FANFIC?!?!**

**Ruby & Leo:**** Erk! S-s-s-s-s-saphireKat…! H-h-had a nice n-nap…? **

**S. Kat:**** (still enraged) YOU TWO DIDN'T UPDATE MY FANFIC WITHOUT MY PERMISSION, DID YOU!?!?**

**Leo:**** No—well not—(accidently falls over and presses the 'update' button) …yet... 0.0;;;**

**Ruby:**** Crud! Leo!! O-O;;**

**S. Kat:**** YOU LITTLE…!!!!! (lunge, crash, wham, rattle… rattle…)**

**Espio:**** (ahem) Um, do to some 'technical difficulties', we're going to have to stop this chapter for now. Good bye.**

_**(Note: **__**Sorry if none of you were expecting this. I sort of did this chapter this way just for the fun of it. I'll get things back to normal the next chapter, promise! So please don't say, 'This chapter sucked', okay? I know it did. That's why I'm never going to let two twelve year olds right in my fanfic ever again. EVER. Thank you and have a nice day, but don't forget to R&R!!! Bye peoples!) **_


	10. Confusion

**S. Kat:**** Hello everyone! How's everyone doing today? **

**Ruby:**** Erm, good. A-and glad to be alive…**

**Leo: ****Yeah… You're SCARY when you're mad, S. Kat!!**

**S. Kat:**** Ahahaha… y-yeah, sorry. But what have we learned?**

**Ruby & Leo:**** Never update a story with out your permission.**

**S. Kat: ****Very good. Okay, peoples, since we got that all settled Espio shall do the disclaimer today.**

**Espio/Disclaimer:**** saphireKat does not own the Sonic cast, she simply owns Ruby and Leo. Oh, and enjoy the chapter. (bows then vanishes)**

**Leo:**** O.O That is so COOL!!!**

**

* * *

**

Chapter 10- Confusion

In the instant that I fired, I squeezed my eyes shut, hoping I had a clear shot. I must have, because I heard a monstrous shrieking sound. I opened my eyes wide. Black Bull thrashed about in the air. _'Well, at least since we've fought one before, we can easily defeat this guy! Now I have to get Rouge out of here!'_ I picked up the unconscious bat and put her limply on my back, as if I was giving Ricky, my little brother a piggy back ride, except this one was on a desperate attempt to prevent ourselves from being killed.

I dashed over next to a tree and gently put Rouge down. I gently shook her, trying to wake her. "Rouge? Rouge! C'mon, wake up! You're a tough chick, I _know_ that _'love tap'_ that evil flying puff-ball gave you couldn't have knocked you out!"

Rouge finally reached up with her hand to rub her head. "Ugh," she groaned. "That was _hardly_ a 'love tap'." I smiled and sighed with relief. Rouge must've heard me, because she looked at me with a slightly concerned look. "Sorry, sweetie, did I scare you there?"

"Well, a little, but I'm glad you're alright!" I smiled again out of relief.

"So… what was that thing you did to save me?" Rouge asked.

I hesitated. "Y-you saw…?"

"Not exactly, but I know you did _something_ back there. And I'm not interrogating you, I'm just curious." She stated, getting up.

"Uh, yeah… I sort of… developed a new power? Heh heh." I rubbed the back of my head, a little… embarrassed for some reason. Was I just scared of what she'd think? That maybe she'd probably reject me? That never happened to me before. Even when my family found out, they still treated me the same. No matter what. Sure, it took some adjusting to get used to it, but everyone thought it was cool I had powers. Powers in which I didn't completely understand. Was it really _that_ cool? Having a power that I couldn't understand and possibly not control?

Come to think of it, when I started going to 'train' in the G.U.N. base, I think _some_ of the people there _resented_ me. I thought I might've insulted them and not know it. When I asked Aunt Topaz, she just scowled at them, then shout at them as they quivered from her rage, then smiled at me, telling me I did nothing wrong. But… why did I still feel like I _did_ do something wrong? And, I also wanted to know how I got these powers. I literally just woke up one day, got a Chaos Emerald form Leo, and I got powers…!

Wait… I got the Chaos Emerald from Leo…

'The Chaos Emerald…' 

"Ruby!" Shadow's voice snapped me out of my thinking state. I jumped, a little and quickly whirled around.

"Y-yes?!" I squeaked.

"Is Rouge alright—oh." He stopped asking his question when he saw she was standing up, like nothing happened.

"I'm just fine. Thanks for thinking of me, Shady." Rouge winked.

"Tch. Just shut up, bat girl." Shadow folded his arms and looked the other way.

'_Wait, was Shadow concerned about Rouge? Whoa.'_ I blinked in surprise. Shadow slowly turned his head towards me.

"…What?"

"Nothing." I blinked again.

"Then why were you staring?"

"I was just _looking_." I frowned.

He frowned, then moved his glance at Black Bull, still thrashing in pain (I guess I must've hit a vital organ.) then back to me. "Knock it off then, it's annoying me." He turned back the other way, then scoffed, "Idiot."

The hair on the back of my neck bristled and my face grew red with anger. I opened my mouth, hoping that an insult would come out and bite his head off, until I remembered what Aunt Topaz had worn me about losing my temper…

_Flashback:_

_"Ruby! Calm down! That's enough!" Aunt Topaz shouted as she grabbed my shoulders from behind._

"_Let me at 'im!! Let go!" I hollered in rage. "I wanna beat him to a pulp!"_

_The dude with dark hair and was maybe about 16 or 17 years old smirked with a big fat hint of cocky-ness planted right on his face. All I did was bump into him, and he just tried to take my purse as 'payment' because I accidentally had spilled my chocolate shake on his jean jacket. I had apologized, but he said, "You're __**sorry**__?!? Tch! Screw you, bitch. I'll just take your purse to buy myself a new jacket!" He made an attempt at grabbing my purse, but, luckily, Aunt Topaz was watching from a distance, and was able to get behind the jerk, and twist his arm around, making him release my purse. But, I was still enraged, because that guy called me the 'B' word, and if anyone is smart out there, you know not to call a girl with Chaos Powers the 'B' word._

"_Aw, too bad," snickered the jerk face, "looks like you can't beat me now that your 'Auntie's' here, little bitch."_

"_YOU…!!" I thrust forward, away from Aunt Topaz's grasp, my hand was started to glow as I pointed and was about to fire. The guy's look actually went from cocky to terrified, and stumbled backwards. _

"_Ruby, DON'T!!!!" _

_I froze. Standing there. I had the upper advantage now. I could destroy him in a second. But… that wouldn't have made me a better person than he was, would it? I lowered my hand, and bow my head in shame. Just __**what**__ was I thinking? Was I really going at him with the __**intent**__ of __**killing**__ him just now? Or was it just blind rage…? The older boy scrambled to his feet and ran away. I stood there, feeling like I was going to cry. I turned toward my aunt. "I-I'm… sorry…" I mumbled. A clear drop fell from my face and landed on the ground. Aunt Topaz said nothing. She just walked up and hug me. _

_After I was done crying for a while, we sat down on the bench at the park. I was still out of it, but I do remember one thing she said to me:_

"_Emotions are a part of who we are and play an important—or rather, a very important part of our life. They can help motivate us to make successful decisions… and can make failure ones. They can make us stronger or weaker. They make us do things we will be proud of… or regret. It's not a crime for our motions to get in the way, but all of us, even myself, must know when to set our emotions to good use or set them aside. I want you to be the type who thinks clearly about using your emotions wisely and when to use them. And, once you've mastered that," she laughed, "I think you'll become an even greater person, Ruby."_

_I smiled back._

_End Flashback._

'It was just a little insult, but I don't want to do something that I might regret… like last time.'

I clenched my fist and muttered, "Whatever."

"Hmm. So that didn't work, huh? Okay then. How about: you are a **stupid, idiotic, weak, pathetic little girl that can't do anything without almost killing herself.**"

Okay. Screw the consequences and regrets. He's dead.

"**I KILL YOU, BLACKYYYYY!!!!" **I yelled in rage. I thrust my hand forward, made the a gun shape, and basically fired at will. I wasn't too sure if I actually wanted the 'bullet' to hit him or not. But, even if it did, it wouldn't hurt him that bad, right?

Shadow dodged it, as expected of him. But, I was so focused on Shadow before, that I didn't realize that Black Bull was right behind him!!

What was more surprising was, that my shot went right through him as if it was a hot knife through butter!

The monster didn't even have time to roar in pain. It just simply… fell to the forest floor and… died.

Rouge blinked. Then blinked again. "Holy…oh, my… shoot…" She tried to come up with something to say, but nothing came out quite right. Not that I can blame her.

I stood there, a little wry. Until it hit me. Shadow was trying to get me angry on purpose! "You!" I pointed a finger, not in the killing intent like before. "You were trying to get me angry on purpose, didn't you?!"

"Yes. Yes I did." He answered flatly.

"**Ha ha ha ha… well, done. Shadow…" **A deep evil voice chuckled.

A shock jolted up and down my spine. I remembered that voice. And on cue, the octopus like creature floated down to just a little above Shadow's height.

"**So, you really think that this girl might really be of some use to discover your past? You were curious about how her powers were similar to yours… AND how they worked… or rather… if they worked in a similar way to YOUR powers. Isn't that right… Shadow?"**

All of us stood there, motionless, not knowing how to act, especially me.

"I've had just about enough of you." Shadow warned. "Get out of my sight." He gave him the most terrifying death glare I've ever seen him give yet! The 'Doom's Eye'… I think it was called just cackled and replied,

"**Perhaps… you still need to think a little while to know your place. We'll meet again very soon Shadow… and a word of advice: You'd better keep a close eye on that girl-wench… if you don't want her to meet her demise anytime soon…"**

And it floated off just like that.

I was speechless.

I just… didn't know what to think anymore.

I don't know what to do anymore.

And now…

I felt more alone then ever.

_Wow, how dramatic! Let's see what Leo's up to now…_

"Whoa!! Oof!" I landed right on my face with a 'whack'! I was able to escape that crazy Cyber Space place and exit through some link that, if I calculated right, would lead me into another one of Eggman's bases. I lifted my head up and grumbled. "Some way to land flat on my face." I picked myself up and cracked my neck. "Huh? Where's my laptop…?" Suddenly, my laptop came flying out of the portal I just got out of and hit me in the head with a 'thunk'! "OUCH!" I fell flat on my back this time. "…Am I the only one with such bad luck…?" I moaned… quite pitifully for a guy, really.

I picked myself right up, again, and grabbed my laptop. "Well, at least it didn't get broken with my head." I half joked with myself. I sighed and looked around the room I was in. It looked like some kind of junk room. There was robot parts, cabinets, dross, dried oil on tables, paper with advanced math equations on it and a few monitors and broken computers. "Hmm… maybe there's some stuff in here I could use…" I wondered. I set the laptop down and started to search through random stuff. I found a sling bag, that was good for carrying stuff, a few blue prints of the place, so I wouldn't get lost, some handy tools, incase I needed to fix something, and a few blank discs, perfect for downloading anything. "Okay, this should be good." I bounded off towards the door and pressed the green button for it to open. As soon as I did though…

**_Bonk!_**

"Ow!!"

Surprise, surprise. My face ran into something… AGAIN!!!

"Damn it!" I cursed, a liiiitle frustrated. "What the hell!!" I rubbed my nose, hoping there wasn't any blood.

"**Unidentified life form detected."** Said a robotic voice.

"…what?" I looked up. There was a robot standing right in front of me! And he looked like one of Eggmans's robots! Not good! "Gaaaaah!" Crawled backwards, away from the robot. "St-stay away from me or I'll fry you…!" I pulled out something from my backpack. 'Please be something that'll kill it, please be something that'll kill it, please be something that'll kill it…!'

…and I was going to do it with a…

"…a screw driver…"

Damn. I'm sure lucky today, wasn't I?

There was an awkward silence that hung in the air for a little bit.

"**Scanning for possible threat…"**

_' 'Possible threat'? I'm screwed! Sure, I pulled out something completely useless, but if it thinks that I could really kill it, and maybe with that weird punch thing that I did earlier, it might kill ME!!'_ I screamed in my mind.

"**Possible threat: 1" **

"…Say what?!"

"**Need for extermination: zero. Not an Eggman specimen." **And the thing just started to turn around to walk away.

"Hey! Now hold up just for a second here!" I jumped in front of its path. "Hold on, buddy! I've got a few questions for ya!"

"**You have nothing to do with me. Step aside."**

"Look, I will, I will. But I need to ask you some things first!"

"**What is it?"**

"Okay," I held out a finger to represent the number one, "One: Aren't you one of Eggman's robots? I thought that you ARE one of his robots."

There was a brief pause.

"… I mean, you have to be one of his right? Weren't you… created by him?" I was sort of nervous. Here I was, talking to a robot. Brilliant idea, Leo.

"**Affirmative. I was created by him. I was the last of the 'E Series'. I am number E-123 Omega. My mission is to annihilate Dr. Eggman for revenge."**

"Revenge…?" I was surprised. A robot turning against his own creator! That's something I never thought would happen, at least, in my life. Even more surprising is that the robot was 'seeking revenge'. I thought robots were supposed to lack, feelings and emotions. Actually, I thought that counted for all things 'created'. Then again… Shadow was 'created' so I guess I'm not the one to talk, am I? "Huh… well, that makes sense I guess. Okay, two: WHY AM I **NOT** A THREAT?!?!"

"**Do you want to be? That would mean it would result in me destroying you."**

He had a point. "That's… true. But that's not what I meant." I answered. "I mean, I like, totally killed that Eggbreaker thing in Cyber Space with that weird punch thing and I'm not considered a threat? That's a little insulting to me."

"**You were the massive energy source in the Cyber Space?"**

"Huh?" I blinked. "Um… I guess, maybe? I'm actually not to sure of it myself. It just happened… wait. How did you know I was in Cyber Space?"

"**I downloaded files of Eggman's to further my knowledge on his base, and discovered that he was in Cyber Space dealing with 'viruses'. And the one contained a massive amount of Chaos energy, which can only be found from a Chaos Emerald. Then it simply vanished. Are you saying that you were the energy source?"**

_'Uh… do I **want** to be?'_ I thought. "…What if I am?" I folded my arms, trying to act like a tough guy (or like the tough guy that I am). "Am I going to be a threat to you then?"

"**Perhaps not to me, but to Eggman."**

"Ahhhh. So that's why you want to know?" I thought for moment. This moment, then added. "Okay, three: just out of curiosity, why tell me all of this?? I don't know you, and you don't know me. Do you think I might be… I don't know, someone who could possibly be your ally or something??"

"**Possible. But, I have no knowledge to any of your abilities. I would prefer if you would just give me useful information that could mean the downfall of Eggman." **He answered.

"Fine, but… I need something in return." I said smoothly.

"**Which would be…?"**

I smirked. "Know where I can get a Chaos Emerald?"

Just as I asked, the one screen in the room turned on, and started blinking. It made a beeping noise that said "Chaos Emerald Detected!" I was surprised that some of the junk in here still worked!

I dashed to the screen. "What?! A Chaos Emerald?! Already?!?! Woooow!" I clenched my fist. "Okay then!!" I started to press random buttons on it. "Show me where the rock is!"

**"Please Enter Password."**

"What? Oh c'mon!" I groaned. "I've gotta put in a password, just too see where the stinkin' thing is?!" I sighed. "Okay… um, 'Eggman Empire'?" I typed in.

**"Incorrect."**

"Nrr… what could it be--?"

"**Emperor Eggman."**

I turned towards Omega. "What? You mean that's the password?"

"**Affirmative. This is my exchange for information on Eggman."**

I stared at him for a minute. Maybe some robots weren't so bad after all. "Heh. Okay, then…" I pulled a disc I had found earlier about all information on his plans and locations, "I'm kind of busy. So here's a disc that'll help you. It has all of Eggman's plans on there. And his locations on where he has to be, his robots, bases, all of it. I've already got a copy, so you can keep that."

"**This will prove to be useful."** He put the dist inside a little slot on his jest. **"I must continue with my previous mission. Good luck, human."**

"Thanks," I mumbled, not taking my eye off the screen or my fingers off the key board. "And it ain't 'human'. The name is Leo." I turned around, but he'd already left the room. I waited as I heard his heavy foot steps go down the hall, then went back to work. "…you're welcome. Sheesh."

_'Okay, no more delays, Leo! If I have the same ability as Ruby… that means I can probably do Chaos Control too! And if I can get that Chaos Emerald… then finding Ruby should be a piece of cake… then I can figure out how the heck I got this power!'_

_

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_**Geeeh! (collapses) Marching season is finally dooooone! No more marching band for a while, woooooh! Okay, sorry this was a tad late… like I said in my other updates (I think) earlier, school, marching band, schedule, yadda yadda yadda. Life. I'm glad I got this done, though… Sorry if this wasn't as 'good' or anything. I'm trying make things a little more dramatic, and I needed to stop here for the next chapter, which I'm making some good plans on… it should be quite interesting. :D **

**Okay, you should know me by now, people: PLEASE REVIEW!!!!! MEANING CLICK DAH WITTLE BLOO BUTTON IN DAH CORNAAARRR!! (I know that sentence was poorly constructed, I did it on purpose, so let's not criticize me, shall we? lol.) And, I'm only going to say this once, just a reminder, I'm accepting anonymous reviews. Critiques are welcomed, but, please, be sincerely nice. It's much appreciated, okay? Thank you. **

**BYE-BYE PEOPLES!!**


	11. Truce Bonds

**S. Kat:**** Hi peoples!**

**Ruby:**** Hi!**

**Leo:**** Hey!**

**Sonic:**** Yo!**

**Tails****: Hiya!**

**Knuckles****: Hey.**

**Amy****: Hiiii!**

**Cream:**** Hello! (****Cheese:**** Chao Chao!)**

**Rouge****: Hello. (wink) (guys: O.O (drool))**

**Omega:**** Greetings.**

**Charmy:**** Heeeeeey!! Hiiiii! How ya doin'? Wanna play?!**

**Vector:**** (pushes Charmy out of the way) Stop trying to be such a show off for the ladies, Charmy! You're too young anyway…**

**Charmy:**** I don't see any falling for you!! Nyah! (sticks out tounge)**

**Vector:**** Whaaat!!!**

**Espio:**** …(sighs) Things never change…**

**Shadow****: Just get on with it!! **

**S. Kat:**** Okay, okay! Sheeeeeesh! Take a chill pill, Blacky! Ugh. Okay, here's the disclaimer:**

**Disclaimer****: (takes a deep breath) I DO NOT OWN SONIC AND COMPANY OR ANYTHING ELSE REALATED TO SONIC THE HEDGEHOG, BUT I OWN RUBY AND LEO ENJOY THE CHAPTER!!! (gasp, pant)

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Chapter 11- Truce Bonds

"Ruby, let's go." I heard Shadow command. I was sitting on my legs, staring at the damp, forest floor, still too shocked to move, or speak.

_'What am I?'_

_'Am I **still** Ruby?'_

_'Or am I someone else?'_

Shadow came closer towards me. "Ruby." I didn't respond. "Ruby! We're leaving, right now." His hand was trying to grab my arm. I flinched away.

"…Don't touch me." I murmured.

Shadow narrowed his eyes. "Look, this isn't a good time to get upset. We're going to find the next Emerald, so we—"

" 'Find the next Emerald'," I imitated him, " 'Find the next Emerald', emerald, emerald, emerald. That's all you ever _care_ about. You don't even have time to think about anything else but that. Tricking me to get angry like that and kill that monster… just to _**test**_ me…" I started to choke on my own words, do to either rage or sadness. "Why did you do that?!"

"I wanted to see your powers true potential." He said firmly, detecting my anger. Guess he was hoping to subside it with an equal force. He guessed wrong. "And it was the only—"

"—'way'??" I finished his sentence. " 'It was the only way.' Oh, how smart and clever you are, **Blacky!** Oh, but did you _consider_ on, perhaps, _**asking me?!?**_ Of course not! Because you only care about yourself!! You only cared about how my FULL POTENTIAL would be beneficial to YOU!!"

Shadow was getting almost as frustrated as I was, but was trying to keep his composure. "And making me out as the bad guy isn't going to make things better. Suck it up, and let's get going before—"

"Shadow…" Rouge sighed. "You might want to stop before she tares your head off."

Shadow glared at Rouge. "What are you talking about?" Then suddenly turning back at me. I was giving him the dirtiest look I could conjure up within me, with tears starting to brim in my eyes.

"WELL, WHAT DO YOU PLAN ON DOING IF I STOP LISTENING TO EVERY SINGLE THING YOU SAY, HUH?!?"

"Wha…?!" Shadow stepped back.

"YOU NEVER THOUGHT HOW I WOULD FEEL, DID YOU?! YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND ANYTHING!!! AND YOU'RE A BIGGER JERK THAN LAST TIME!! YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND WHAT IT FEELS LIKE, SUDDENLY GETTING A POWER YOU DIDN'T ASK FOR!! I…I…"

Here it comes, it's going to get out…!

"I ALMOST **KILLED** SOMEONE, OKAY?!?! ARE YOU HAPPY NOW?!?! THAT'S WHAT I CAN DO WITH THIS POWER… THAT I DON'T EVEN UNDERSTAND ONE BIT OF IT!!!! IS THIS WHAT YOU WANTED TO HEAR?!?"

Shadow looked at me with… was I imagining it…? Shock? Shadow was actually… surprised? Well, good. Maybe now he would stop being an idiotic jerk.

"**I HATE YOU!!"** I cried as I dashed away, leaving Shadow, who as if he'd been hit by a truck.

After I left… (Rouge later filled me in on the details.)

"What… the hell did I do?" Shadow sighed, defeated. He was kind of… well, out of it. That was his first time seeing me so angry.

"Wow. Nice going, _**Blacky**_. You sure know how to handle a woman _gently._" Rouge smirked with a sarcastic tone.

Shadow turned towards Rouge, infuriated. "If you were here all along, why didn't you intercede?!"

Rouge started to walk past Shadow, ready to leave. "Well, sometimes it's better not to get involved on other people's fights. That argument you had with Ruby was strictly between you and her, so go figure out a solution on your own. And the other reason is…"

Shadow waited.

"I didn't want to butt in on you and Ruby's first scuffle." She winked, then took off into the sky. "Catch ya later, handsome!"

Shadow's eye twitched. "That damn bat…"

………….

"Stupid…" I sniffed. "Stupid moronic, insensitive, smart mouthed, jerk!" I wiped my face with the bottom of my shirt… since I didn't have a tissue at the moment. I realized how _dirty _I was. Seriously, my magenta T-shirt was starting to look a little brown and my jeans weren't looking so blue anymore. I was a mess. In a lot of ways. _'What the heck happened back there? I just got so… stressed out and I flipped! But, did I have a right to get…? Of course I did!! He was being a total jerk!!'_ I sighed, calming myself down. "Why does he always treat me like…?" I started to mumble.

"Treat you like what?" Shadow asked behind me.

I didn't even turn around. I didn't feel like looking at him in the eye after I just gave him a boatload of my mind. I didn't even care what he thought anymore. I just… didn't care. That was all.

"…What do you want?" I asked unemotionally. "Did you come here to yell at me? If you did, I **really don't want to hear it from you!!**"

Shadow's head jerked back. Then sighed, "Guess I deserved that one."

I finally turned to him. Did he just admit he _deserved_ that? Wow. Have I _finally_ crossed into the Twilight Zone without knowing it? I sniffed and replied, "Yeah, you did."

"I know." He walked up to me and sat down a good two four feet away from me. Guess he didn't want to anger me more. "Look, I'm…" He hesitated.

"You're…?" I folded my arms, waiting.

"…I'm sorry that I upset you."

Well… that was a little better, but I wasn't going to let him get off the hook that easily!

"And what else?" I questioned him with a hard look.

Shadow looked at me funny and spat, "What do you mean, 'and what else'?! Didn't I just apologize to you?! Isn't that enough?!"

"You only apologized for upsetting me." I said sternly. "What else do you think you need to apologize for?"

Shadow let out an aggravated sigh, then thought for a moment, and continued, "Fine… alright. I'm sorry for tricking you into attacking with your full potential. I should have just asked you and did it some other way."

"And…?" I mentally pushed him.

"…And I apologize… for choosing those words to get you angry in the first place. And… for being… a jerk. You satisfied now?!"

I thought for a long moment. "I will be… on one condition." I looked at him straight in the eye.

Shadow waited patiently. "Okay…?"

"Don't ever _think_ on doing that again. **Ever. **Comprendes?"

Shadow lowered his head slightly and closed his eyes. "Alright—"

"And one more thing." I intervened. Shadow's eyes opened again. "I… also want to say… I'm sorry." That threw him for a loop. I don't think he was expecting that at all.

"…I'm a little taken a back. I thought you were mad at _me_."

"I was mad at you," I admitted, "but, I'm sorry for acting… immature, I guess. I'm just… confused. Not knowing how I got this power, where it came from, and how to really control it. I won't lie to you, Shadow, it… scares me a little."

There was a brief silence that hung in the air.

"That makes sense… actually, I'm like that sometimes, too."

"What?!" I was astounded! '_Shadow afraid of his own power, too?! No way_! _I bet he's just teasing me again!'_ "Yeah, right, Shadow! That isn't even funny! I saw you fight on ARK a year ago and I've seen you fight now! There's absolutely no difference in your battling concepts what's so ever! And you're still just as strong as ever, too!"

Shadow smirked. "So, you admit that I'm strong, huh?"

"Wha—huh? No—I d-didn't mean that—well, maybe…" I blushed from embarrassment, as I saw Shadow being on the verge of chuckling a little, I caught myself, though. "But that's not the point! How can you be scared of your power, you're better at it than I am! No, you're ten times—twenty times better at it than me! And don't you dare start laughing!" I pointed at him accusingly. "I am NOT trying to flatter you, I'm just stating facts."

"Well, I already knew that much." Shadow said coolly. I growled softly, restraining myself not to yell at him again. "But you forget, _I can't even __**remember**__ where my powers came from or who I really am._"

'_Oh… yeah that's right.'_ I thought, getting a little sad again.

"I can sympathize you with learning a new power you don't know a lot about, but just think how 'scary' it is for me. I don't know who I am, or where I came from… and my memory is a train wreck. I only remember a few bits and pieces from my past, but even that doesn't help me at all."

He turned his head back at me. Only to see me with tears brimming in my eyes. "What?! Why the heck are you crying now?!"

"I-I-I'm s-sorry!" I sobbed. Hearing that from him… just made me feel very sad all of a sudden! What was wrong with me?? "It's just… I was here thinking about myself a-and I forgot how much YOU suffered, too! I'm sorry!"

"Wha--?! I didn't say that to make you cry, you idiot!"

"I'M SORRY!!! WAAAAAAH!!" I cried harder.

Shadow groaned and rubbed his temples, clearly not knowing what to do. He thought for a moment, then got up, picked up something and threw it onto of my head. "Look, it's a snake!" He tried to sound enthusiastic, but failed, it made me twitch in fear, though.

"Waah! S-snake?!" I flailed my hands about, until the 'snake', slid off of my head. It was actually just a vine… I stared at it for a moment, then glared at Shadow. "Why'd you do that, **Blacky?!**"

"To make you stop crying. But…" He trailed off, turning his head in a different direction, just looking off into the distance, "since you called me my old nickname, guess you're feeling better now?"

I looked at him with questionable eyes, then smiled warmly. _'Tee hee. He was just trying to cheer me up! I guess… I was finally able to see that 'OK' side of Shadow again. And that… makes me kind of happy.'_

Then, an idea blossomed in my mind. "Yeah, I guess I do." I casually walked over to him. "Thank you!" And gave him a big ol' hug! (XD)

"…what the hell?! Let—" But I then cut off Shadow with Leo's famous _'__**Nuggie of Disobedience'**_!!!!

"Take this!! _**Nuggie of Disobedience!!!!!**_ Mwa ha ha ha ha ha ha!!!" I laughed as Shadow tried to struggle from my vice grip.

"Ow… ow… ow… ow ow ow ow!! GET OFF OF MY, DAMN IT!!!!" Shadow tried grabbing my arms, and squeezing them. It kind of did hurt… so I let him go. "WHY. DID. YOU….!!!"

"Hey, don't get mad at me. It's Leo's law."

Shadow suddenly cooled down. "What…?"

"It's Leo's _**Nuggie of Disobedience **_Law_: 'He/She who is disobedient or has permitted some sort of 'crime' shall receive 'The Nuggie' for the punishment.'_" I said.

"…How is it that you can say that with such a strait face…?" Shadow stared at me in either amazement or bewildered. "…Whatever…I give up… there's just know way I'm going to understand the 'laws' of youth today…" Shadow sounded exhausted.

"You know," I giggled, "when you say that, you make yourself sound like an old man."

"Be quiet." Pause. "_Please_."

Since he was nice this time, I decided to let him off easy for that. "Okay."

"…"

"…"

"Soooo…" I broke the silence.

" 'Soooo…?' " Shadow echoed.

"I think we've wasted enough time, so we better get going. But just to make sure," I held out a hand, "truce?"

Shadow looked at my hand. And reached his forward to grab it, and shook it lightly. "Truce. But you're right. We have to get going…" He pulled out a different colored Chaos Emerald. I blinked.

"Where'd you get _that?_"

"From that Black Bull you defeated."

" 'I defeated'?" I pointed at myself.

"Technically, YOU were the one who finished it off."

"Oh yeah…"

"Okay, here we go." He lifted the Emerald in the air and cried, "**CHAOS CONTROL!!"**

And we both vanished in the light, to a new destination.

_Elsewhere…_

When I opened my eyes, my feet had just touched something metal. A metal floor. Shadow landed right next to me. None of use said anything. We felt as though we were being watched. We both glanced around us, checking to see if the coast was clear. I then heard something sounding like an engine… Shadow heard it too, and then, we both saw a small, red space ship pull up next to the platform we were standing on. And on that space ship… was a blue hedgehog!! It was Sonic!!!

Sonic grinned at us. "Heya Shadow, Ruby! How've you guys been?"

"Sonic!" I smiled joyfully. I was seriously glad to see him!

"Not you again…" Shadow shook his head.

Sonic just kept his smirk on. "Nice to see you too. Hey, Ruby, was Shadow being mean at all to ya?"

I glanced at Shadow, then at Sonic. Then grinned. "Nah. He might've been a few times, but I snapped him into shape all right! Ha ha ha!"

Shadow glared at me and mumbled, "_**Brat."**_

"_**Blacky."**_ I mumbled back. .

Sonic just chuckled. "Jeez, you two haven't change, have you?"

_'Actually, we have Sonic. We have.'_ I quickly glanced at Shadow, without him noticing._ 'But I better keep my mouth shut so Shadow doesn't get angry. Heh heh…'_

"Anyway," Sonic began, "Those black creatures are heading to outer space, so we're heading to the ARK and—"

**BOOOONG!!!!**

All three of us jumped.

"HUH?!" We all looked on the space ship. An Unidentified Object (more commonly known as an UFO, duh) had landed right on the ship… and it was **moving.**

"God… damn it… oww…." It whimpered. I twitched, trying to lift itself up.

"Ohmygawd!!" I exclaimed, almost screamed. Shadow and Sonic jumped again. "LEO!!"

"What?! Ruby?!?!" Leo was now on his feet, standing right on top of the space ship. "Ruby!! I finally found you!" I grinned happily.

I gleamed back. "No, **I** found **you**! Do you know how hard it was for Shadow and I to find you?! And here of all places!!"

"I was looking for YOU the whole time, dummy!" He laughed, got off the ship and ran towards me, arms stretched out.

I ran to him my arms stretched out as well… and…

"**Nuggie of Disobedience!!!" **I put him in a headlock and gave him a taste of his own medicine. (Mwa ha ha ha ha!)

"OW OW OW OW!! That's not fair!! You tricked me with that smile of yours!!" Leo yelped while trying to struggle out of my grasp. "And I wanted to do the same thing!"

"Heh! I knew you would, that's why I decided to do it first!" I squeezed him harder.

"Oxygen—can't—get—any—in—lungs!" Leo chocked.

"Oh, sorry." I released him. However, as soon as I did… HE got ME into the headlock and gave me the **Nuggie of Disobedience!** "Gaaaaah! You traitoooorrrrr!!!" I yelled as he gave me the hardest nuggie in my life.

Shadow and Sonic just gazed on. "Well…" Sonic began. "Looks like they missed each other… I think."

Shadow just said, "I'll never understand kids… especially those two."

After Leo and I settled down, Sonic continued explaining his situation. "**Anyways,** Tails, Knuckles and myself were planning on heading to ARK to check out what those aliens are up to."

"ARK…" Shadow murmured.

_'That place brings back memories…'_ I reminisced.

Leo kept listening.

Sonic kept going. "So, we could really use the help with dealing with these things once and for all! You guys in?"

Shadow stood silently. "Hmph. Knowing you, you'd probably NEED my help in order to come close to victory."

Sonic rolled his eyes, but kept his ever so confident smirk on, "I'll take that as a 'yes'."

Shadow glanced towards me. "If you don't want to go, you don't have to."

I put my hands on my hips and turned towards him. "Shadow, our agreement was that if you helped me find Leo, I'd help you regain your memories. There's no way I'm backing down now! And are you forgetting I have Chaos Powers, too?"

Shadow smirked. "True enough."

"Oh, and I also—" Leo piped up.

"—And Leo can be helpful too!" I finished for Leo. But for some reason, his shoulders drooped and he looked a little discouraged. Maybe that wasn't what he was trying to say. "Can we both come, Sonic?" I asked.

Sonic shrugged, "Sure, don't see why not. The more the merrier! C'mon! Next stop, the ARK!"

Steps started to emerge from the space ship so we could get on. Leo looked around in awe while Sonic went to the cockpit to talk to Tails. The three of us were by ourselves, but I'm not sure if Leo counted because he was off in 'Techno-La –La-Land'. I was able to say 'Hello' to Tails and Knuckles. I was just about to ask Leo how we were able to find each other in the same exact place until Shadow spoke my name.

"Ruby."

"Yeah, Shadow?" I said, curiously.

"Were… we on ARK before. A long time ago?"

"…Yes, we were. About a little more than a year ago."

"And… was there another girl there? …Ma… Maria… was it…? I can't remember who she was… but her **face**…"

_'**Maria?** Are his memories starting to surface??!'_ A hopeful spark triggered.

"You… were you both on the ARK?" He asked.

"Huh? N…no, Shadow. Maria and I weren't on the ARK at the same time… you knew her… before you knew me." I answered.

"What?" He looked defeated. "But… I could've sworn… you were there, too. And… that blond kid, Leo… he was… there?" He tried to manage, but wasn't even sure of himself.

_'Why would he think that??'_ I wondered. "Don't worry too much Shadow. Once this is over, you'll remember everything again. I'm sure of it."

Shadow said nothing else after that. He quietly left the room, behind the automatic door. I stared at it before Leo brought me back to the real world. "So Shadow doesn't remember much?"

My heart gave a little jump. "Oh! Y-you heard us??"

Leo sweat dropped. "I was technically in the same room… I was just checking out all the machinery in here. Guess you two forgot I was here."

"Yeah…"

There was a short silence.

"Well?" Leo asked again.

"…He's starting… to remember some things. But I think his memory is… mixed up somehow, I think." I looked out the window sadly.

"You think?" Leo repeated. "You think there's another possibility or something?" He raised a brow.

"Uh—err—it's not that! I was just… thinking… is all." I clenched my fist. "But, I'm positive he'll get his memories back! He's Shadow the Hedgehog, after all! Nothing can stop him! I'm serious. The time I spent with him proves it." I laughed nervously. "He's really… something."

"Yep." Leo agreed on me. "But so are we." He smiled confidently. But there was something in his tone that was almost… definite. Did I forget to ask him something? Ah, I couldn't remember, maybe it would just come to me, right?

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**Okies! That's all for now, folks! I'm sure taking my time with these… must be my lack of free time. Oh well. Such is the wonderful thing we call 'Life'… or IS it wonderful at all?! No, no. I'm joking. I really liked writing this chapter for some reason… I was like, totally fueled. Ha ha! Guess I was just really inspired. Okay, that'll be all for now. Please leave a review, people! Bye!**


	12. Just Making Things a Little More Chaotic

**S. Kat:**** Hey peoples? How you all doing today? Man, I can't apologize enough for my extremely late updates. When I first joined, which was… two summers ago if I remember correctly… no, the first STORY I wrote was two summers ago. My bad. Anyways, I tried updating at least once a week, and apologized if it was even a day late! XD lol. Looking back at it now, it was kind of silly… but EVERYONE is having a hard time updating this time of year, with school and all. So I suppose it's understandable, right? **

**Shadow:**** …Are you done with your little speech now?**

**S. Kat:**** Yes, so sorry. Mind doing the disclaimer this time, Shadow?**

**Shadow/Disclaimer:**** (shrugs) Sure, why not…? **_**saphireKat**_** doesn't own Sonic, me, or anyone else. She owns the two trouble makers, Ruby and Leo. Read on… now.**

**S. Kat:**** Uh, how… sweet… thanks.

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Chapter 12- Just Making Things a Little More Chaotic

It had only been a few hours since we left Earth. And it had only been one hour since I had last seen Shadow on the ship. He must've found somewhere to think for a while. Leo and I casually browsed around. Knuckles came to talk to us to see what was up and we were having a conversation.

"Wait a minute!" Knuckles held up his gloved hand. "You've got Chaos powers just like Shadow's?!"

"Yep." I replied. "For a while now. The Commander and Aunt Topaz wanted for me to keep it a secret."

"Why?" Knuckles asked, a little confused. "If you ask me, having a power like that would mean you could show your friends and show off a little. Maybe you'd get a little more respect that way." He smirked.

"You know, that's not such a bad idea." Leo thought out loud.

"Yeah, but what if people didn't think my power was 'cool'?? What if they were _scared _of me? That's what I fear most! And I don't know where I got this power, either…" I tried to explain.

"Err, well, I guess you have a point…" Knuckles muttered. But he sort of looked like he didn't get it. "But, I just don't know… why would they want to keep your power a secret in the first place?"

"Who knows?" I shrugged. "My aunt says that the government is just like that. But she also said that it's so other countries won't get any 'ideas'. But most likely, it could be possible that they didn't want Dr. Eggman to figure out I had powers so he could try to kidnap me or something."

"Too late for that, though." Leo folded his arms behind his head. "Eggman already knows, right?"

"Yep…" I sighed. "I'm just still a little confused…"

"Maybe it's 'cuz you think to much." Knuckles suggested.

"I beg your pardon?!" My eye twitched.

"That's not what I meant! Okay?? Chill!" Knuckles put his hands in front of him, and stepped back. "What I meant was, maybe you're just to self-conscious about what other people think because the government is telling you all of these things and putting ideas in your head! …Not counting your aunt… of course…"

Whoa. Did that actually just make sense?? And this was coming from Knuckles… well, he did have SOME sense once and a while. But… was the Commander… really…?

'…_Deceiving me from the start?'_

I shook my head. _'No! I shouldn't just be assuming things! But… that doesn't mean I shouldn't consider things, either.'_ I glanced out the window. Then blurted out, "I'm going to find Shadow. Later."

"Uh, okay." Leo blink. "Shout if you need anything."

"Ha ha! If you insist!" I grinned, waving back.

The ship was relatively small, so I thought finding Shadow wouldn't be too hard. _'Hmm… now where could that black hedgehog wondered off too?'_ I thought curiously, for some reason, walking around was making me feel a little better. Maybe it really was nothing. …Hopefully. I then stopped at a door that said, "Emergency Power Supply".

' "Emergency Power Supply"…? …Okay, why does the word 'Chaos Emerald' pop into my head when I see those words?'

'_Maybe 'cause it's __**true**__?' _I subconsciously answered to myself. _'Well, duh… uh-oh. Little red flag going off in my head again...!'_ I moved impulsively and tried opening the door, but it was locked!

And to make it worse, an alarm was going off and there were red flashing lights everywhere!

"Shoot! Come on!!" I pulled on the metal handle. Then stood there for a half a second, feeling a tad idiotic for not doing this in the first place. "Oh, for the love of God!" I got into my stance and pointed at the door with my hand pointed like a gun and hold and griping the wrist with the other. **"Chaos Gunshot!!"** The door didn't fall down at first; I had only blasted out the lock. I got into my fighting stance and karate kicked the door down with a "Hi-yah!!"

I ran right in, and saw a broken glass container on the floor and Shadow holding the Chaos Emerald! _'I KNEW IT!! THAT __**IDIOT**__!!!'_

"**Shaaaaadooooooow…!!!!**" I said in a low, raged voice. Shadow stared at me wide-eyed, knowing he was caught. "YOU IDIOT!! THAT WAS BEING USED AS THE EMERGENCY POWER SUPPLY!! DON'T YOU KNOW HOW TO READ SIGNS, YOU IDIOT?!?!?!"

I dashed forward, gripping the Chaos Emerald he was holding. I struggled to rip it out of his clutches, but who was I kidding? He wasn't going to just let the thing go. Stupid, Chaos Emerald obsessed, hedgehog! "Put it back now!" I shouted.

"Ruby, I **need** this! You should know that!!" He shouted back. I heard footsteps running down the hall. Leo and Knuckles came running into the room.

"Didn't you just hear a word I—Oh for--!" I was tired and frustrated of Shadow up to this point. I was left with only one option. **"Chaos…"**

"**Control!!" **Shadow also said. Instead of a blinding, flashing light… something else happened. First there was this weird warping noise, then something like a portal appeared, but it was sucking things in like a black hole!

"Wh-wh-what is this?!?" I screamed. Suddenly, I felt my self being sucked in. "AAAAHHHHH!!! HELP MEEEE!!!"

"**RUBY!!!"** Leo and Shadow cried at the same time. Shadow quickly grabbed my ankle. Leo ran over and grabbed my other one.

"Leo, what are you doing get out of there!!" Sonic shouted. "Shadow, get Ruby out of there!!"

"No way I'm letting go of Ruby!" Leo shouted back. "This time… I'll be… the one to help her…!" He grunted tugging harder. Shadow stared at Leo in amazement. But he soon put back on the focused and aggravated expression.

"Tch! The only way you'll be any help is if you stay out of this, boy!" He sneered.

"Too late for that, since I'm already _involved!_" Leo shouted back.

"There's that." Shadow agreed… for once.

Shadow and Leo both pulled harder, and I was almost out of the hole of black obis, until something, like a blue, almost liquid like tentacle rushed out of the hole, and smacked Shadow, making him lose his grip. But then, Leo's feet were starting to come off the ground, even though he clasped my ankle until I couldn't feel it anymore! My body was half way through the hole, and now I was dragging Leo with me! Sonic and Shadow cried our names out, but it was too late for them.

It was too late for us.

…What were we going to do _now??_

_Eventually…_

"AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!"

_**WHAM!!**_

That was the sound when Leo and I made when we hit a solid metal floor. **Hard.** Leo and I groaned. "Owww… Leo, you still alive?"

"…Depends what you mean by 'alive'…" Leo muttered.

"I'll take that as a 'I'll live'—"

_**SLAM!!**_

I froze as a huge, blue tentacle like arm slammed to the ground right next to where I was lying. I looked up as it lifted itself from the ground. It was some big, ball of a blue, floating liquid creature… and had some weird, pointy robotic head with green eyes. It actually looked like that 'Chaos' creature I remember seeing on the news nearly two years ago when it attacked Station Square.

The creature swung its arm at me a second time, and this time, it was really going to hit me! But before I could even move, Leo stepped right in front of me. _'What the heck is he doing?! He's gonna get—"'_

"**Chaos…"** He muttered as his fist started to glow some reddish color. "**Dynamic Fist!!!"** And his fist went right through the arm, like a hot knife cutting butter. And single handedly! The creature thrashed and in pain as I still sat there, I was too awestruck to move.

'_Eh…?'_ My jaw dropped to the floor. _'Did… Leo… just… on his own…?'_

Leo turned towards me, almost like he was going to ask if I was all right. But one look at the expression on my face, I think he knew that he had a lot of explaining to do. He smiled wearingly and said, "Am… I in trouble?"

I just shook my head and waved my hand. "You can explain yourself after we get out of here! Look!" I pointed. The creature's arm was already starting to reform itself. I staggered to my feet, trying to get in my fighting position. "W-what is that thing, Leo?!"

"How should I know **I** know?!"

"Oh, gee, I don't know, maybe 'cause YOUR supposed to be the 'I-Know-Everything-in-the-Universe" guy!" I scoffed.

"I never said tha—"

"**WHAT THE BLAZES IS GOING ON?! WHAT ARE THESE TWO CHILDREN DOING IN THE EXPARIMENTATION ROOM?!?" **A voice boomed on the speakers. Leo and I jumped and landed right on our bottoms.

"Who… was that?" I whispered.

"I don't know for sure…" Leo whispered back, "but, that sounded like Dr. Eggman!"

I gasped. "You could be right! But why did Chaos Control bring us here?!"

"I'm not even too sure if that WAS Chaos Control. Listen, as soon as they open the door, we're going to run as fast as we can so we can escape, okay?"

I gulped, then nodded. I positioned myself so that I was slightly kneeling, so I could sprint up and dash to the door when the time came. And lucky us, the door opened and we dashed to it as fast as we could, but the creature tried to grab me this time! "Oh no you don't!" I cried. **"Chaos Gunshot!!"** I blasted the creature's arm off in an instant. It thrashed around for a bit, but it's arm started to grow back… again! "Quick, Leo! We have to get out of here while it's still regrouping!" I shouted.

"Way ahead of you!" Leo smirked, and he wasn't kidding. He was already ten feet away from me. I followed after him and we dived through the door just as it was about to close. "Wooooh!" Leo cheered. "Safe--!"

"What the blazes are you two children doing here?!" An old voice demanded, from behind us. We both froze, with the 'Uh-oh' expression on our faces. We slowly turned around. When we did, we were shocked on who it really was. It was an old man in a lab coat, and he had a grayish-whitish mustache and dark glasses. He looked almost like Dr. Eggman, but we both knew who it really was. "More important than that, how did you two get aboard the **ARK** in the first place? I don't seem to recall you two on here…"

'_Professor Gerald?!'_

"Wh… where… did you say… we are…?" I asked, quivering.

Professor Gerald raised an eyebrow, and smoothed out his mustache, as if he was thinking. Then said, "I think we need to have a little talk, come with me please. Right now." We stood there, not moving. Leo and I glanced at each other almost as if saying 'Should we really do what this guy says?' I smiled nervously.

"U-um, sure thing, but I only have one thing to say first."

"What?" He asked.

"SAY CHEESE, POPS!!" I took out my camera and held it right to his face and blinded him with the flash, double actually.

"Gaaaaaah!! What was that, a blinding device?!" He hollered, trying to keep his balance. Leo and I ran out of the room and just kept running, which was hard, BECAUSE NOW THERE WERE OTHER PEOPLE ON THE ARK AS WELL! When we thought it was safe, we hid behind a very large fan-like machine, to catch our breath.

"What… the hell…" Leo gasped, "…is going on?!"

"I think… I may…" I tried to explain between gasping for air. "…have a hunch, but I'm afraid if I'm right."

"And that… would be…?" Leo inquired.

"Okay, now, this might sound just a little crazy. But, supposed that 'black hole' was not only a wormhole through space, but through _time_ too. And, we both no there hasn't been any people, besides us on the ARK for fifty years… what if… what if we're in the _past_?"

Leo stared at me for a long, hard moment. His eyes going so wide, I thought they'd roll out of his head!

"Oh… my… God!" His hands clutched his head. "WE TRAVELED FIFTY YEARS INTO THE PAST!!!" He screamed.

"Shhh!" I hissed. "Leo, we're still hiding, so keep it down! Until we find a way back, we don't want anyone to find us!"

"And how do you suggest we do that?"

"I… I have no idea. Yet."

"Then what are we going to do in the mean time?!" Leo asked, getting a little anxious.

"Uh, keeping hiding and hope they won't stuff us in a glass container and perform weird experiments on us and attempt to dissect us and try to poke our brains and—"

Leo lightly shook me back and forth. "Ruby, get a hold of yourself! Listen, we haven't been caught yet, and no one but the Professor saw us. I'm sure we can get out of this in know time. Now, let's look around and see if we can find a Chaos Emerald. I'm sure there's at least _one_ on here."

I took a deep breath. _'Inhale, exhale'_. "Your right. I just… need to calm down! I've handled robots, aliens, and jerky hedgehog! I can do this!"

"That's the spirit!" Leo grinned. "Let's get out of here."

"Right!"

_Forty-five minutes later…_

"AAAAAAAAAAAHHH!!! WE CAN'T GET OUT OF HERE!!!" I screamed while clawing at the door. We had accidentally locked our selves in a room, and I was having a mild panic attack.

"Ruby! Calm down! Calm down! I'm sure there's another way out!" Leo tried to hush me, but didn't work. "And we both have Chaos Powers, I'm sure we can just blast our way out, too!"

I abruptly turned to him. "We're trying to escape _without being caught_, Leo. If we _do_ use our Chaos Powers, someone will hear us, and then our cover will be blown!"

"Oh… right." Leo sweatdropped. He glanced around the room curiously. "What kind of room is it? All I see are a bunch of rocks and ancient writings in glass cases."

I looked around as well, highly interested. "Whoa." I pulled out my camera and started to take pictures, close up ones especially. Leo raised a brow at what I was doing.

"What are you doing?" He asked.

"What does it look like? These might come in handy. And, I think…"

"Think? Oooh, that's bad."

I glared at Leo. He backed away, with a nervous smile. "S-sorry! Go on, please!"

"…As I was **saying**," I glared at him one more time, to make sure he wouldn't interrupt, "I think, well, if Professor Gerald was a **scientist**, why does he have all of these stone tablets and all of these other things? The Professor built weapons… or so I've heard from the GUN data bases…"

"Wait," Leo interrupted. "**YOU** got **into** GUN's data bases??"

"Of course not." I rolled my eyes. "I was there with _Rouge_…"

"Doing **what??" **He jokingly demanded, hinting that I could've been messing with the government's computers and steal files… about jewels. Which was something WAY out of my capabilities. I'm smart in school, but with computers… let's just say… it's not a good combination.

"…Searching **_Google_** for _'the meaning of life'_." I said, doing a dramatic pose. "Nooooo, you doofus! I was just looking for info on Professor Gerald after the ARK incident."

"Why? If this was _after_ the incident, why'd you bother?" Leo asked, while studying something that looked like some sort of sword, but it was a dark, reddish color. I certainly didn't look like anything from Earth.

"Commander asked Rouge to get some info for a report or something… and I just decided to tag along. It's no biggy." I shrugged, clicking my camera away.

"This is a cool sword…" Leo rubbed his chin.

"Hellooo! Were you even listening to me, Leo?!" I scowled at him.

"Yeah, yeah. I was! Sorry. But this sword looks really cool, look at it, Ruby!" I said eagerly. I sighed and walked over towards him. I stopped and stared at the sword.

"Where have I seen that thing before…?" I wondered out loud.

"Huh?" Leo looked confused.

'_Wait a second…'_ I remembered where I saw that sword before! "That's the sword the black aliens use, Leo!!"

"What?! Are you sure?!" Leo shouted.

"Of course!! Leo, I just got a very bad feeling, we have to get out of here right now!" I started to run for an exit, only to remember that there WAS NO EXIT! "Ah! Freakin' fluffers!!"

"I'm sorry, were you trying to curse? I confused that with gibberish." Leo said, cool as a cucumber.

"Shut it!"

"Okay, sorry! So what are we gonna do?!"

I looked around. "Um… oh! Over there!" I pointed to a vent on the wall. "We can crawl out through there! Leo, help me pull the screen off!" Leo rushed over to help me and we carefully pulled it off and set it on the ground. It was a little dusty inside, but we managed to crawl through the other end.

"Okay, we're in the clear," Leo assured me.

"Great," I smiled feeling more relieved. We stood up and walked swiftly, but quietly down the hallway. "Now let's—"

_**Bump!**_

"Ouch!" I fell backwards, slamming into Leo, who also fell backwards as well, and hit his head on the ground.

"Oww…" Groaned the person I had bumped into. So much with getting out of here without being spotted. Maybe if we just act natural, no one would notice…

The person then gasped. My heart jumped, thinking that I might be in trouble, but instead, she got up and quickly said, in a worried, timid voice, "O-oh my! I am so sorry, I wasn't looking where I was going, forgive me! Are you alright? I didn't hurt you did I?"

I still had my head down, but I could see she was offering her hand. I hesitated, but her voice at least seemed to be so kind, and so gentle too. "I'm… I'm alright," I said as I took her hand, "It's partially _my_ fault too, because I wasn't looking either—" I stopped mid way when I had finally met her eyes. They were shimmering blue. She was wearing a light blue dress with a darker blue, short-sleeved sweater, and blue flat shoes. A blue head-band kept her blond hair nicely in place.

_She_ was the girl who was on that photo that I saw a little more than a year ago.

_She_ was the reason why Shadow wanted revenge, because of what they had done to her.

And _she _was standing right in front of me, holding my hand, alive and well.

'_She's Maria Robotnik!'

* * *

_

**S. Kat:** **Dun dun daaaah! It's one big surprise after another for the dynamic duo, Ruby and Leo! First, they're sent into the past, Ruby discovers Leo has Chaos Powers, they come face to face with Shadow's creator, Professor Gerald, AND now they bump into Shadow's only friend, Maria!! What could possibly happen next?! You will just have to find out on the next exciting episode of…!!! (gets bonked on the head by Shadow)**

**Shadow: Quit making this sound like a TV drama.**

**S. Kat: Only if YOU stop ruining my fun! **

**Shadow: …(thinks) Yeah, I highly doubt that'll happen anytime soon.**

**S. Kat: Augh! You…!!! (inhales, exhales) Okay, whatever. Okay peoples. You know what to do. R&R and stuff, and I'll see when I can update. See you all later!! Bye-bye!**

**Shadow: And good riddance. **

**S. Kat: Shut up now or I shall get the readers to take you down!!! You KNOW I will!**

**Knuckles: Grrr… Oh for--! Just review!!!!!**


	13. Majority Vote

**S. Kat:**** (slowly comes out) Uh, hi peoples. Eh heh heh. You all must be a little irritated with me for not updating sooner, huh?**

**Ruby & Leo****: Not unless you have a good reason.**

**S. Kat****: Well, I have a few. I was involved with the school play again this year. I wasn't in the cast though, sad to say… T.T I was in the stage crew it was still fun, though. So, not a lot of time on the computer.**

**Leo:**** Oh, okay. That makes a little sense. So what was the play, and why didn't you just write some more once it was over?**

**S. Kat:**** One: the play this year was "Guys and Dolls". It was fun! Two: that WAS my original plan… but…. (cue horror music) MY COMPUTER GOT A VIRUS!**

**Leo:**** (Le gasp) NOOOOOOOoooooo! THAT'S **_**EVIL**_**! THAT'S THE **_**WORST**_** POSSIBLE THING THAT COULD EVER HAPPEN!**

**S. Kat: ****But the computer is FIXED now. So, no worries. I'm updating now. So, again, I'm sorry for the EXTRA long awaited update. Gomen nasai! (bows)**

**Rouge:**** Groveling is hardly a lady like thing to do, honey.**

**S. Kat:**** (looks at Rouge challengingly) Well, what do YOU suggest I should do?**

**Rouge:**** You could give me some jewelry!**

**S. Kat:**** Nice try. Well, can't give you jewelry, but can you do the disclaimer this time, please?**

**Rouge/Disclaimer:**** Hmmm. Weeeeeelll… alright, since I'm such a nice person and all. (winks) **_**saphireKat**_** Doesn't own Sonic and Co. She owns Ruby and Leo. Enjoy the chapter, kids. **

Chapter 13- Majority Vote

_(Normal POV.)_

Knuckles' fist slammed right into Shadow's right cheek. "YOU IDIOT! NOW LOOK WHAT YOU DID TO THE KIDS! IT'S YOUR FAULT, BASTARD!" He roared furiously. Shadow crashed into some unimportant machine, making a dent in it. Shadow slowly got up, and brushed off the tiny pieces of ruble off of him. Looks like he caught him off guard. That wouldn't be happening again. Knuckles continued to throw verbal barbs at him. "If it wasn't for you, those kids wouldn't be stuck in who-knows-where-they-are-now!"

Shadow was unusually silent. Sonic was highly considering to knock him off his block too, but knew that it wouldn't make the situation any better. Tails ran too where the commotion was, after putting the ship on autopilot first. "Guys! Stop! If you two keep going at it, you'll crash the ship or something! This ship is still unstable! I was only able to make this thing within _hours_. It's technically a prototype, so it still has glitches in it! Please, I know that Ruby and Leo are gone now, but you can't take it out on my space ship!" Tails pleaded reasonably. It took a long, cold, brutal second for the two to stop glaring at each other. 

Shadow slowly crept to the deck, while Knuckles stood there, quietly steaming, with Sonic trying to calm him down, which wasn't working do to his too laid back personality that was making his hot-headed friend even more furious. Tails was shooting questions at Sonic, who was still trying to keep Knuckles from exploding at the same time. And now poor Ruby and Leo was sent to God-knows-where with Chaos Control. 

Crap. 

Sht.

Crapity sht.

Why was it that whenever he made another step toward his goal… something comes along and puts his plans on a set back? But… what _was_ the thing that continuously set him back? If he was by himself, this would have gone a lot smoother. That had to be it. If Ruby had not—

'_No! Shut up!'_ He commanded the doubtful voice in his mind. _'She was… just trying to help. But…'_ Shadow grimaced. He just couldn't… think? No, it wasn't that. He just was confused as ever. _'I don't get that girl or her lunatic of a friend at all. Why would they… go out of their way to help each other? Humans are greedy, selfish beings… but… as crazy as that girl is. She's…'_

He struggled to find the word he was looking for.

'…_weird.'_

(Well, it could have been worse. That's Shadow being NICE for you.) 

Shadow could sense that she had some sort of connection with the girl, from something long ago. But what was it…? Did it have something to do with the ARK? 

Yes.

That was it. That was the connection.

The ARK.

Shadow stared out into space, as the ship was finally closing in on the ARK. A strange nostalgic feeling went through Shadow. "Space Colony… ARK…" Shadow muttered. "That where… when I…" He closed his eyes. "Maria…" Images flashed through his mind. 

Grabbing the camera from Ruby…

She reminded him of Maria…

Seeing her first reaction of space, staring at the stars in awe…

Sonic coming on board, to stop Eggman…

The battle with Sonic…

Running through the ARK…

Ruby's plea… 

The reason…

The person he was doing this for…

_'Maria…'_

Then his eyes snapped open. Shocked, with a little more piece of the puzzle obtained. "…Died!" He looked down at his hands. _'She died…? Maria died! How? When was this? It was long ago… and it was on the ARK. That much I know. __**But why!**__ And what does Ruby have to do with this?' _

Shadow was so lost in his thoughts, for once, that he didn't hear Sonic approach him. Sonic looked out the window with an eager expression. "Hey, Shad. Incase you're still daydreaming, looks like the party comers are here." He pointed out the window, where there was a pack of the black aliens, flying and crawling all over the ARK! And it appeared they weren't just going to let them pass on by. Sonic was silent for a brief moment. "Hey, Shadow. Are you worried 'bout Ruby and Leo at all?" 

Shadow slowly turned to Sonic, with an indifferent expression. "And _why_ does that matter to you?"

Sonic just shrugged. "Well, since she was with you for a while and everything, I thought you two might have become more on friendly terms. At least more than me." He smirked. "Come on! Aren't you at least a little concern on Ruby's behalf, if you don't really care about Leo?"

"…Fine. Yes, I'm a little uneasy about Ruby's whereabouts… but…"

"… '_But…?'_" 

"It's probably better if she nor Leo are here right now."

Sonic stared, a little shocked. "I… wasn't expecting you to say something like that."

"You misunderstand, obviously." Shadow replied with annoyance. "I don't want Ruby to be involved in this battle, so it's better if we clean up around here, then get her and Leo so they won't get hurt. She might be… not… exactly indestructible. But she's strong enough to take care of herself. And, I think Leo might be strong enough too."

Sonic raised a brow. "What makes you say that?"

"I didn't tell this to Ruby, so she probably doesn't know this yet… but when we encountered Leo a while ago… I could sense that he had some sort of _energy_ much similar to Ruby's and myself. Like he had Chaos Powers."

"Really!" Sonic was astounded. "Wow. Ruby was one thing, but now Leo too! Heh heh heh." He chuckled. "Boy, he must be _thrilled_. Ruby is in for quite a surprise."

Shadow couldn't help but smirk himself at the mental image of Ruby flipping out on Leo when she found out. "I suppose we don't need to worry too much about those two for now."

"Well, that being said, I think it's time to rock and roll!" Sonic dashed for the door and to start smashing the aliens. Shadow took one last look at the ARK, before following Sonic out the door as well. 

'_Ruby and Leo will be __**fine**__.' _Shadow thought, optimistically as possible. _'If those two have Chaos Powers… then they're practically an unstoppable force. They'll be fine.'_

"…"

"…Damn, girl. You **better** be fine." He added before disappearing behind the door. 

_With Ruby and Leo…_

_(Ruby's POV.)_

"…name?" Was all I could hear from Maria as she shook my hand. I was sort of in shock, coming across someone who was supposed to be _dead._ But, then again, Leo and I saw Dr. Gerald, who was dead, but… this girl was different. She was Shadow's _only_ friend. And she was standing right before Leo and I. I knew I had to speak. I did, but it was low and soft.

"I-I'm sorry. I didn't quite catch that."

Maria tilted her head to the side slightly, slightly curious. I must've looked sick… or psychotic. But, she still spoke with gentleness and politeness, and repeated her question. "I said," she began, "my name is Maria. What's yours?" 

"O-oh… right. Sorry, how absentminded of me… I was…" I blinked rapidly, then decided that my shock was over, and tried to look as polite and intelligent as possible. "I guess I'm just kind of out of it today. I just sort of got here, so I'm still kind of dazed." I smiled warmly. "My name is Ruby, by the way. And my friend of here is—" I turned to Leo, about to introduce him, only to find his face totally blank… and flushed! Was he blushing! "…Leo…?" I sweatdropped.

"Ruby and Leo." Maria echoed. She had a very angelic voice. And she seemed so kind… I can see why Shadow treasured her. I had to admit, something about her made me feel a little… envious. Not in a way to _hate _her. Something told me she was a hard person to hate, not that anyone would… or could. "I like your name, Ruby. It's very pretty!" She gleamed.

I blushed slightly, feeling delighted by the comment. "Well, thank you! You have a very pretty name yourself." 

"Oh, well, thank you very much." She smiled back. She turned to Leo, she hadn't notice Leo's expression yet. "And I like your name too, Leo. It's very nice, kind of like a courageous lion, I think."

Leo blinked, bringing himself back. "Th-th-thanks," was all that he could manage to say. I had to admit, he looked kind of cute when embarrassed. 

"But, I must say, I'm really surprised! I thought I was the only kid here on ARK!" She said, excited. "But, this is great! I get to have more people around my age to talk to now. So things won't be so boring."

"Oh…" I said, still playing along. "Well, I'm glad too! Looks like we'll have lots to talk about. _Right_, Leo?" I nudged his side with more force than necessary. 

"Um, yeah! T-totally!" Leo stammered. His voice was an octave higher, and he was speaking slightly faster now. "Yup, yeah! W-we'll have lots to talk about! Like how prett-yyyyyyyyyyyyyyy…." His eyes widen, as he realized what he was actually saying. "Uh… THE FLOWERS ARE!" Maria and I slightly jumped at his out burst. "I mean… uh, the flowers on Earth are really pretty…?"

'Oh, Leo… what are we going to do with you? What's with you anyways? You've never acted like this before.'

"Oh, so you two just got here from Earth? Wow! When did you two get here?"

Leo new that Maria was addressing both of us, but decided to cover up his floppy performance and tried to speak. "Um, we…"

"They just got here not too long ago." Professor Gerald came down the hall with his hands crossed behind his back, very casual like. Leo and I turned toward him, uneasy on what he might do. However, he was actually being very… friendly. "Ruby and Leo here participated in a little experiment I'm conducting, so they'll be here for a little while. Treat them nicely, Maria." He smiled. 

"Certainly, Grandpa." Maria smiled back. 

"Good. Now why don't you run along, there are some rules and regulations I'd like to discuss with these two. You may meet up with them later and take them on a tour around the ARK after I'm done with them."

"Okay, then. I'll see you two later, then! It was nice talking to you!" She called as she walked down the hallway.

Being polite, I waved back and said, "Yeah, nice talking to you, too!"

"Bye…" Leo waved quietly. 

As soon as Maria was out of sight, I slowly turned to the professor, with a wary expression, and asked, my voice just as wary, "…Are you going to shoot us now or later?"

"Eh?" He slightly bent down. He was wearing dark glasses, just like Eggman, but I could tell he was raising a brow in confusion. Then, he suddenly started to laugh merrily. He calmed down and then said, still chuckling, "Ho ho ho ho…! Of course not! What in the world gave you an idea like that?" 

Leo looked completely relieved right now, but I was still slightly on the confused side. "'Cause we… just suddenly showed up here unannounced… and we… tricked you and ran?"

"Don't worry, I'm not mad at all. I was just surprised how two children got into the Space Colony undetected. So, I will need to ask some questions, if you don't mind… and if you answer truthfully, I will try to help you two out as well."

Both Leo and I looked at each other with surprised and eager looks. I turned back to the professor and nodded. "Alright then. Thank you very much!"

He chuckled, "No need to thank me, dear. But, I'd like to question you as soon as possible. Please, both of you, follow me." He turned around and started walking forward. We followed after him. Leo came up to my left and said, in a lowered voice so the Professor Gerald wouldn't hear, "Ruby, are you really sure about this guy? He _is_ Eggman's… you know. What if this guy is just as rotten to the core as he is?"

I understood his concern, but something just seemed different about the professor. I mean, he didn't seem all that bad… and he was, well, different. It's like that feeling in your gut that you can just tell what a person is like, you know? Like you can't really explain why that person is like that, but you know deep down that he really _is_. The professor wasn't a bad guy, he just couldn't be. I knew it.

I struggled for the right words to reassure Leo that we could trust him. I opened and closed my mouth, trying to start a simple little sentence, but nothing would come out right. Leo saw that, and just patted my shoulder and sighed.

"So, you think that he's really not so bad?"

"…yeah. I do."

"Well, I can't argue with you. I felt that about him too, I just wanted to make sure I wasn't the only one, you know. Just to be safe and all."

"You mean you were checking for majority vote or something?"

"Kind of." 

"Looks like the majority has decided then." I smirked.

"Heh. Looks like it." Leo smirked back. 

An hour later…

"…and that's my story with my powers." Leo concluded with his side of the story on what he remembered about his Chaos Powers. For the past hour the professor asked us a dozen questions, but nothing that wouldn't not cause any harm. Like finding out more about the future. Yes, we explained that we were from 50 years into the future. I even showed him my camera so he could confirm it himself. Too bad he wanted to take it apart to see how it worked… but I got it back before he could even touch it, thank goodness. 

"Ah, I see." He muttered, his hands folded on the table. We were in a small, but not claustrophobic small, room. We all had little glasses of water and there was a recorder at the end of the table. Professor Gerald needed to take notes on this, but promised he'd keep our powers and our… 'situation' strictly confidential. "Anything else you remember when you first activated your powers?"

"Nope, that's pretty much it." I shrugged. "And we've already told you how we got here, so… is that it?"

Gerald smoothed out his mustache, thoughtfully. "Yes, that'll be it for now. Thank you for your cooperation." He said as he raised from his chair. Leo and I both sighed of relief, grateful that the 'interrogation' was now over. "Now, I'll allow you two to stay here on the ARK of course, until we can find a way to return you two home."

"Will that… take long?" Leo asked. "To figure out a way to get us to our own time."

He thought for a very long minute. "I can't say for sure… it probably won't be too difficult once I start experimenting with a Chaos Emerald. Oh, that reminds me. I need to ask another favor of you two. I'm conducting experiments dealing with Chaotic powers dealing with the Chaos Emeralds. Since you two have some form of Chaos powers, would it be alright if you helped me?"

I looked at him hard. "No offence, but it kind of sounds like you want to use us for guinea-pigs."

"And it sounds more like the same old training sessions Ruby had to go through back at home." Leo also commented.

Gerald paused. "…I see. What if I told you that by helping me, I'd be helping you?" 

"What do you mean?" I asked, suspicious.

"If you help me with my experiments, I could figure out the origin of your powers'!"

Leo and I both gasped. This almost sounded too good to be true, but, this _was_ Professor Gerald we were talking too. He was the world's greatest scientist back then—err, I mean now. 

I looked at him, flabbergasted. "Can you serious do that! You'll do that for us! Really?"

"Of course. It's not a problem. And besides, don't you think it's a wise idea to learn more about your powers?"

Leo laughed lightly. "Yeah, that might be a good idea. Since Ruby made a lot of boo-boos when she was first learning how to use her power. Like the time she blew up the Commander's car—mmmmmph!" I slapped a hand over Leo's mouth before he could utter another stupid word.

"Eh?" Gerald looked astounded. " 'Blew up a what!'" 

"Err… nothing! Absolutely nothing, professor!" I laughed nervously, and trying to shut Leo up at the same time. He continued to struggle from my grasp, but I kept my hand firm on his mouth and my arm around his neck, so he couldn't even get enough air to speak. "Just kidding around! Yup! Just joking around about stupid kid stuff! No need to panic! Ahahahahaha!" 

Gerald looked at me suspiciously, then just nodded. "If you say so. Well, then. A pleasure talking to you both." He shook both of our hands. "I'd like to begin our first 'training session' tomorrow. I can't be sure how long you'll be staying, so we might as well make it as soon as possible." 

"Yes." I agreed. "And once again, thank you very much for helping us."

"You're very welcome." At that moment, the door opened, and in walked Maria, smiling pleasantly. Even though this was my second encounter with her, it shocked me how she seemed to have such a strong _aura_ when she smiled. Like she was the essence of pureness. 

"Hello Grandpa," she greeted happily, "I was wondering—oh! I'm sorry! Were you still talking?"

"No, it's quite alright, Maria." The professor assured her. "Actually we were just finishing up. I still have some work to do, though, so why don't you take these two to their rooms. They must be tired from their trip here."

"Okay, sure! Can I take them on a tour around the ARK tomorrow, too?"

"That's fine with me. I have to get back to my work. Good night."

"Goodnight, Grandpa," Maria said as she hugged him. She then turn to me, and took my hand. "Come on, our room is this way." She smiled as she led me out of the room and down the hall. Leo was right behind us. We soon came to a hallway I had been down before…

"Uh, hey," Leo started, quite fluently this time, much to my surprise. "What time is it?"

"Oh? It should be…" Maria paused and looked at a clock in the hallway. "9:15 pm. It's a little hard to keep track of the time in space, I know." She giggled. "Anyway, Leo your room is right down the hall. If you need anything, just knock, okay? There should be some clothes for you too change into."

"Ummm, yeah. Thanks. 'Night." He smiled and waved, while walking backwards.

"Goodnight." Maria and I both said in union. Then I realized another thing.

"Where… do I sleep?" I asked, pointing to myself.

"You're sleeping in my room. There aren't any spare rooms left for girls, unfortunately. Is that okay?"

"No, no. It's fine, really. I don't mind." I insisted. She nodded as she opened the door to her room. Once I stepped inside, I was absolutely positive I had been here before…

_'Wait! Now I remember! This is the room I came here to hide from Shadow!'_

"Ruby?" Maria inquired. "Is something the matter? You look…"

"I'm fine." I tried to smile, but I think it just might've given away my cover. We were both silent for a moment, before Maria asked something.

"Um, Ruby," She began. She seemed slightly unsure of herself. "Uh, I'm sorry if I might be being nosy… but… I overheard something… while you and Leo were talking to Grandpa…"

I froze.

Oh no.

_'My cover's blown… again! What's next?.!' _

**S. Kat:**** Aaaaand I'm stopping there. Oh wow. I thought I'd never be able to post this chapter… ugh. (plops down in chair) Like I said, some things in life don't go according to plan and you just have to wait to get around things. I thank every each and one of you for having patience with me… for reviewing… and reading, and for not killing your beloved author with heavy, sharp objects! Don't forget you REVIEW, peoples! It'll be much appreciated! I give you all lots of cookies! (gives out cookies) **

**SEE YA NEXT CHAPPY, PEOPLES!**


	14. Returning to ARK

**S. Kat:**** Hey peoples. How you all doing today? Man, it's finally summer! Sorry to keep you guys waiting. Teachers seem to just cram everything in before finals. Well, I'm all done with THAT, so now I have more free time, yay! **

**Amy:**** So that way you can work more on your stories?**

**S. Kat:**** Well, perhaps… but I like doing other things besides my stories. Like hanging our with my friends, going to the beach, sleeping in, drawing, band camp, and hopefully I'm going to get a part time job.**

**Rouge:**** A part time job? Really? YOU having a part time job?**

**S. Kat:**** …Your comment is somehow insulting. And yeah, hopefully. But, putting that aside… (points) Miss Amy Rose! Could you please do the disclaimer?**

**Amy/Disclaimer:**** Of course I will! **_**saphireKat **_**does not own my darling Sonic or anyone else. She owns Miss Ruby Gemmon and Mister Leo Richards. Enjoy the story!**

* * *

Chapter 14- Returning to ARK

I cringed, frighten with suspense. Which part did she hear—me coming from the future, or having freaky Chaos powers? Either way, I thought I was pretty much in deep water. But, this was Maria I was talking to here. She was practically like an angle, compared to me. Or, at least a much kinder, gentle version.

"I heard that you weren't from this 'time'… and that you had powers. Is that all true?" She asked.

'_Oh. Oh crap. __**She heard the whole thing!**__ Craaaaaap!'_

I gulped hard. "U-uh… um… okay, then, ah…" Why was I being so nervous? Why?

…Because this was one of my greatest fears.

Someone who found out about my powers, and then would just shun me like I was nothing. I'd _die_ if one of my other friends did that to me. I inhaled again, "What would… you do if it _was_ true?" I asked painfully.

Maria blinked. "Nothing… I just wanted to know."

I double blinked. "You just wanted to know…? But doesn't it bother you?! That would mean that I'm some kind of **weirdo** with un-human powers! Doesn't that freak you out?!"

Maria looked at me with pity. "Is that why you didn't want anyone to know…?" Her voice cracked, like she was giggling. "Of course it wouldn't bother me, silly!" She took my hand to comfort me.

"Huh?"

"I mean it. It doesn't bother me at all. Actually, to tell you the truth… I also know someone who is a little… 'different', I guess you could say. It's okay. Everyone has their own unique gifts, Ruby."

I felt so… relieved. I sighed heavily and smiled. "Oh… good. I'm sorry for being… hesitant… but, uh…" I cocked my head to the side, thinking of the words I was looking for. "I mean no offence what so ever… but you're probably the weirdest person ever to except that Leo and I have Chaos Powers just like that."

She laughed. "Hee hee! I can imagine so. But really, wow! You have powers! I think it's really amazing! Maybe you could show me sometime, if that's okay."

"Well, if your grandfather says it's okay, sure. Oh, by the way… you said that you had a friend who was 'different'. How's he, you know…" Although, I could only guess that she must have been talking about Shadow.

"Well… it's hard to explain. But I think that he has a power very similar to yours, to put it simply. You might get to meat him, if grandfather allows it… or if he wants to."

'_Hmm… would meeting Shadow in the past be such a good idea?'_ I thought. _'I have to be careful, or it could really screw up the future. But… maybe I'm just over thinking it. Professor Gerald said that he'd tell us when not to give away too much, so…'_

I smiled politely. "Sure, that'd be nice!"

After we shared a giggle, she lent me a nightgown that was a little similar to the one she was wearing. Mine was light magenta while her gown was pink. They both had some lace at the bottom and a bow around the neck. I really wasn't used to wearing something like this, but it looked kind of cute on me. Maria had rolled out a cot that I could sleep on. We then chatted for a little while longer before we went to bed.

"So you go to school and stuff, right?" Maria asked with wonder and curiosity. "Is it fun? Are the teachers nice to you? Do you have any friends there? What's your favorite subject?"

I crossed my legs Indian-style as I sat on the cot. "Weeeeeell… yes, school can be fun for me sometimes. My teachers are usually nice… except for Mr. Barvan, my math teacher. He goes way too hard with tests and forgets to teach us stuff that he SHOULD have taught us for the lesson and then teaches something completely different. I have some friends, other than Leo in school. And, uh, my favorite subject would have to be… probably reading, since it's the easiest for me."

"Wow. Sounds nice!"

"So what about you? Do you get home schooled or something?"

"Yes. Grandpa or one of the other scientists help me, if they're not too busy. I think that I like science and math the best."

"Really? You can actually stand math? Wow, you're the first person I know who even likes it!" I joked. Maria giggled.

"Okay, okay. Um…" Maria said thoughtfully, trying to think of another question. "Can you tell me about one of your friends and what he/she is like?"

I thought a minute. For some reason, I thought about Shadow when she said that. I guess as long as I revised some of the parts, she couldn't tell it was him. "Well, there is this one friend that I have…" I began. "But, err, I dunno. I'm not sure he's what you would call a friend—but he kind of is, but he's really… ugh. I don't know how to even describe him."

"Is he… difficult?" She guessed.

"I guess you could say that. He's very difficult actually. He treats me like such a pest at times, and all I do is try to help him! But, maybe I _am_ a pest. Because in the end, I'm always the one who has to be 'saved' all of the time. And he's the one who's been 'saving' me all the time. And we seem to argue a lot, too. He also cares so much on finding his—err, um, I mean, he's too obsessed on this… sort of 'mission' he's on, on finding something that he 'lost'. I mean, I can understand that his mission is important… but I think sometimes he doesn't consider anyone other than himself sometimes. And I try to make him see that, but… he's just so…!" I glanced over at Maria, to see if she was still listening to my immature rambling. My mood fell when I saw that her head was rested in her arms, and her eyes closed. I sweatdropped and sighed. "I guess I can't blame you for falling asleep on me, I was totally rambling." I muttered.

He eyes flashed open. "I wasn't asleep. Just thinking." I almost jumped off from my cot in surprise.

"O-oh. Sorry, then. It just looked like you were really sleeping, that's all. Eh heh. So, what were you thinking about?"

"About your friend, actually. But, I was thinking… even though it sounds like he can be rough around the edges, he must not be that bad if he saves you every once and a while. Maybe that means that even though he doesn't like to show it—I'm guessing that it's just part of his personality—he really does care about you, that's what I believe." She said slightly optimistically.

When she said it like that, the gears in my head turned. What she said made sense! And, well, it was probably the truth, too. Shadow did have a little attitude problem. But, if he didn't care about my safety, he wouldn't go out of his way to save my butt, now wouldn't he? I smiled and said, "Yeah. That makes sense. Thanks Maria."

She grinned back, "You're welcome! I think it's important to tell people what's on your mind. Not only does it make you feel better, but if you tell a friend, they usually give you some great advice."

"Yup! I totally…" I yawned half way through my sentence, "…agree with you."

"Are you tired? Maybe we should both get some sleep… it's about 10:05 pm."

"Yeah, I've had quite a rough… couple of days back in my time. I am sort of fatigued." I yawned again. "Thanks again for the advice—" I paused when we both heard a tapping noise at the door. Maria pushed the covers off and got up.

"Uh… who's at the door this late at night…?" I wondered out loud.

"Oh, don't worry… it's probably someone just checking up on us. I'll talk to them. It's nothing to worry about," she tried to say reassuringly.

"Oh, okay. I'm going to try to sleep then, 'night." I said before rolling over and closing my eyes.

_Normal POV…_

Maria slowly crept her head out of the doorway. She tilted her head to the side to see a familiar black figure leaning against the wall. She silently stepped out of the door, letting it slide closed behind her. "What are you doing here so late at night, silly?"

Shadow turned his head to meet her eyes. "Nothing. I was just making sure you were all right."

Maria smiled, and giggled softly to her self. "Oh, you don't need to worry about me, Shadow. I'm really fine—oh. You heard about Ruby and Leo, didn't you?"

"The professor told me that there were two other people aboard the ARK, yes. Is the one girl, Ruby, sharing your room?"

"Uh-huh. She's really nice. I think you might like her, Shadow. She's from Earth, too! She even goes to a public school, has friends, goes to the beach sometimes and all sorts of things!" Maria said enthusiastically.

Shadow watched as Maria continued to explain what Ruby and Leo's life was like on Earth. He couldn't help but wonder if it would be as wondrous if he and Maria went down there together.

"Maria," Shadow interrupted her as she was explaining. "_Why_ are these two kids staying on the ARK?"

"Oh, they're here to help Grandpa conduct an experiment." She smiled softly, but it slowly disappeared with concern. "Shadow… you shouldn't mistrust people right away. Even if you haven't met them yet; how will you know if you don't like them if you've never met them before?"

"…sorry." He said sullenly.

"It's nothing to be sorry about, Shadow." Maria rested her hand on his shoulder. "You're just being cautious." Maria yawned.

"Maria, you go and get some sleep. I'll see you in the morning."

"I'm alright. Why don't you come inside? We could just sit and talk," she offered.

Shadow just shook his head and scoffed a little. "I don't think the girl has seen a black, talking hedgehog before. We don't want her causing a ruckus." Oh, if only he knew how wrong he was…

"Oh, yes. That's… a good point." Maria solemnly agreed.

"Right… I'll let you get back to bed now." Shadow turned, then added. "If you really trust this girl, maybe I'll see her sometime. But you better give her a heads up though."

"Alright, good night, Shadow." Maria then disappeared behind the door, and crawled into her bed. She glanced over at Ruby, who was already fast asleep. It wasn't long before Maria was asleep as well.

_Might as well check in with Sonic, Shadow (present) and the others to see how they're doing…_

Shadow and Sonic were racing again. But this time, it was for the Chaos Emerald. Sonic came up with a little friendly competition idea that if he and Shadow raced for the Chaos Emerald, that Shadow might remember something. Well, as it turned out, Shadow had just won. He had just grabbed the sixth Chaos Emerald, and heard a gunshot. It wasn't the one from anywhere close by… no. He remembered that he heard a gunshot. And at that precise moment, he remembered that day.

"Sonic…" he muttered to himself. "Now I remember. That day we fought here aboard here on the ARK!"

He had done it. He had filled in another piece of his memory. He just needed a few more pieces of it, and then it'd be complete.

But… still. Even if it was only a little piece coming back to him, it made him feel relieved somehow. If this kept up… his mission would be complete. He would know who he was again. He wouldn't have to keep asking the same questions to himself over and _over_ again. It would soon all be over.

Sonic came right up beside him a few seconds later, slightly panting. "Phew! Boy, Shadow," he said breathlessly, "you sure don't hold back. Guess I should've known, you _are_ the Ultimate Lifeform and all."

"Hmph. Or maybe it is because you lack the _skill_ of learning your opponent's skills. I wouldn't be surprised. Probably isn't the first time you're let your confidence get the better of you, hedgehog." Shadow sneered.

"Ouch." Sonic faked a wince. "Like I haven't heard _that_ before. So, I recon that'd be your sixth Chaos Emerald, partner?"

"Yes. I just need one more." He confirmed. "And I'm not your 'partner'."

Sonic chuckled. "Man, you need to lighten up. I still wonder how Ruby was able to put up with your sulky attitude."

"I could say the same thing about you and your annoying cockiness."

"Hey, you can't love everything, now can yooooooooooouuuu--!!" In mid-sentence, the ARK started to shake uncontrollably. Sonic and Shadow, both caught off guard, nearly fell to their knees. Then, abruptly stopped. "What in the world was that just now?!" Sonic asked. When Shadow didn't respond at first, he looked over to him. "Shad? You okay over there?"

"…fine." Shadow mumbled. He looked like he had a headache or something. Or… perhaps another flashback? "It felt like the core of that tremor is up ahead." Then he just took off, with Sonic following him without missing a beat.

As Shadow ran, so did his memories. He closed his eyes in a brief second, remembering that horrid day.

_Flashback…_

_A gunshot rang out._

_Maria, with the look of utter shock and pain fell to the floor. She had been shot._

"_Maria!" Shadow called out. _

_She collapsed on the ground, panting. Weakly, she looked up at Shadow, with pleading eyes, reaching out her shaking hand towards him. "Shadow…" she gasped, "I need your help. Everyone's faith depends on… you!" Then her entire body went limp, and she spoke no more._

"_Maria--!!" Was the only thing Shadow was able to shout before the capsule ejected and threw itself into space, toward Earth._

_End of Flashback._

Shadow blinked open his eyes. "Maria…"

Sonic wasn't paying attention to him in the slightest. However his attention turned toward something black in the sky, and it appeared to be on fire! "Shadow! Look, up there!"

They both stopped running and gazed up. Above them was a black comet soaring through the sky. It was also somewhat suspicious on how close it was to the ARK.

"What is that?" Shadow asked.

"Once every 50 years, that black comet passes through here." Sonic explained, and chuckles a little, probably because he was surprised that Shadow didn't know that. Then his eyes widen in surprise. "Oh! Do you think that black comic could have something to do with those black creatures?!"

'_Black… comet.'_ Those words seemed to trigger something in his memory. Then, he felt a sharp pain, like someone had just stabbed his skull, he fell onto his one knee, with one hand clutching his head. "Ugh!"

Sonic looked at his ally with concern. "Shadow, what's wrong?!"

Shadow recollected himself and slowly got up, his voice was a little shaky though. "I think you're right. I feel them, they're in there. I've got to get to that comet!"

Sonic nodded and the both of them ran the opposite direction. "One question though…" Sonic began, "how are we going to get on that comet? It's a bit far from here."

"Not a problem." Shadow pulled out a Chaos Emerald. "Chaos Control!" The two of them disappeared within a half second.

_Back in time on the ARK (Ruby POV)…_

**Training Day 3**

Objection: Chaos Power Capacity

Test Subject- Leo Richards

Ability: Chaos Dynamic Fist, Chaos Control

Another test robot was sent hurtling toward the wall. It was already missing some parts before that, but by the time it slammed into the wall, most of the parts went scattering in every direction. The training room was looking more like a junkyard every minute. I'm pretty sure by the time it was my turn, they would probably need a new training room. I'm not kidding.

It was our fourth day aboard the ARK, and our third day of training. We basically had to be hooked up by some wires and patches that measured our Chaos Powers and stress levels, blood pressure and other things. It was all very complicated to get set up for, but the training itself wasn't that difficult. It was only for a few hours, then we had the rest of the day to walk around the ARK with Maria and explore. Leo and I hadn't seen Shadow yet, and to me, I was thankful, thinking it would screw up the future if I ran into him in the past.

The layout for the training room had two rooms. The observation room, which had the controls for all of the tests and was separated by a foot of glass from the main training area, which was were Leo was. I was on the other side of the glass with some of the scientists. There was Professor Gerald (of course), a female professor, who could have been in her mid thirties, Dr. Gardin and another male professor, in his forties, Professor Shmulk (his name made me laugh the most, hee hee hee).

"Alright, good punch, Leo,"Professor Gerald spoke into the microphone. "Do you feel tired at all?"

"Yeah, just a little. I think I'm good for a few more rounds, though." Leo replied.

"Very well then. Now, this time, we're going to let you beat down a bigger robot. Put the same amount of energy in your attack as you did with the last one, understood?"

"Yeah, sure."

The professor pushed a button and a larger robot emerged from the floor. It just stood there, motionless. Waiting to be smashed into pieces by Leo's devastating blows. Leo took a deep, cleansing breath, and put his hand into a tight fist. Within moments, his fist started to glow. He charged forward and threw his fist forward, slamming into the robot.

But… what happened next wasn't something anyone was expecting. Instead of the robot being knocked backwards, because of its size, it was thrust backwards toward the wall and a few parts went flying! A part even came flying towards the glass! I wasn't too sure if it'd shatter it or not, so I ducked under one of the desks. The part didn't even make a crack, it just scratch the glass. The professor grumbled and took the microphone again.

"Leo… I though I told you to do it like before! Not everything in this room is damage proof!"

Leo looked a little freaked and waved both hands apologetically. "S-sorry, sir! I really did try, seriously, I did!! But… I just… couldn't help it."

Professor Gerald smoothed out his mustache thoughtfully. "Really. How so?"

"I'm not too sure… I mean, right before I punched the robot, my arm just started to ache like **Hell**, and when I actually did punch him, the ache felt like it shot out of my arm and into my fist and the robot went _splat_!"

'_Splat…? Tee hee hee hee!' _Leo had a funny way to be unintentionally amusing.

"Very 'splat' indeed." Professor Gerald muttered. "Alright Leo. That's enough, you may come into the observation room now." He pressed a button that opened the door and Leo went right through, taking off the wires and patched that were all over him. By the time he came through, Dr. Gardin was already helping me put mine on.

I turned to Leo, "Way to make the robot go _'splat'_, Leo."

"Ahhhh, shaddap." Leo muttered.

As soon as I was all 'wired', I hopped into the training area all ready to go. I turned to the glass awaiting my instructions.

"**Okay, ready, Ruby?"** I heard Professor Gerald through the speaker.

"Yes, sir!"

**"Now, we'll do the same thing we did with Leo. You'll start off with a fairly small robot, and I want you to imagine that you have just a tiny handgun in your hand. Try not to do anything 'big'. We're working on how small we can make your attack be."**

" 'Kay," I pivoted to my right. A robot no taller than myself emerged from the floor, motionless and waiting once again to get blasted into oblivion—

'_No, don't Ruby. You just using a small 'handgun'. Just enough to injure it, not blast it.'_

I brought up my up my right hand, pointing like a gun and my left clutched the wrist. I checked my aim and got into my stance. **"Chaos…" **My hand started to glow its usually purplish color, getting brighter the hard I concentrated. **"Gunsho—"**

_**ARROOOOOGAH!! ARROOOOOOOGAH!!**_

The alarm startled me so much that I had completely missed my mark and my focus! I ended up shooting to the far right from the robot… and had made a hole that was bigger than my head. I stared at the hole with disappointment, and slight embarrassment. "Eh heh heh heh… oops."

Red and white flashes went on and off with the alarm. I looked around me, panicked. "Wh-what the heck is going on?! Professor!! Tell me this is just some kind of drill!"

Through the glass, I could see the professor's stern and worried expression as he replied through the mike, **"I'm afraid this isn't just a drill, Ruby."**

* * *

**To be continued!! (gets shot) X.X; Eheheheheh…. I may have deserved that. I'm sorry for this being even MORE late. Ya see, half way through the chapter, I encountered one of my most vicious foes of all time: WRITER'S BLOCK!! DDDDDDDX God, I hate them!! It was the worst one I had EVER come across! Anyhow, I guess it's official that this story is going to be longer than my first story. For how much longer, well… not too sure. But it's sort of getting close to the end and all. I mean, after Shadow and Sonic take on the Black Comet there's—(stops self). Ah, I'm not going to spoil anything. If you peoples have already played the Shadow the Hedgehog game, you already knows what comes next. **

**And before I go, I just have one very important thing to say, even though I've already said it like, a thousand times. PLEAAAAAAASSSSE REVIEW!! You're comments are what fuel me to write more and they make me feel good inside!! And plus, if any of you give me ideas, I MIGHT USE SOME OF THEM TO MAKE YOU PEOPLES HAPPY (or because I have a creative block and can't think of what else should happen XD)! So, with new members and the old ones who had to endure waiting a millennia for my late updates (I'm very sorry), please review!!**

**Brownies for everyone! (randomly tosses brownies) Sorry, I ran out of cookies. **

**Later peoples! ;D**


	15. The Physics of Fate

**S. Kat:**** Hello peoples. I do apologize for disappearing for a while. (shrugs) I just haven't been inspired all to much to write over the summer as I'd liked. And now school has started for me once again… la di da. I'm sure you all know what I'm talking about. But, that's life. At least I'm still writing when I DO get inspired. Well, enough chitter-chatter. Here's the disclamer.**

**Disclaimer:**_**saphireKat **_**doesn't own Sonic and Co. She owns her OC's, Ruby and Leo. Read on and enjoy!!**

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Chapter 15- The Physics of Fate

'_No, no, no… don't tell me that… __**that day**__ is about to happen! It all seems just too soon!'_

I was frantic. Terrified really. If it was **that day**… that would mean Shadow… and Maria… and the whole ARK…!

"**This is not a drill, I repeat, this is NOT a drill!" **Said an alarmed voice through the speaker.

'_Don't say it… please don't…!'_

"**The Chaos prototypes have escaped from the control area! They are in the main control rooms D1 and A3! Send all G.U.N. soldiers to those areas immediately! They're destroying everything! At this rate, the whole—"**

The message was then cut off from a series of screams and crashing noises.

I had two feelings about this situation. For one thing, I was relieved that it wasn't going to be the ARK's 'accident'. But the other thing was that my blood ran cold on what had just happened. Some experiment had escaped and is destroying the ARK?!

Professor Gerald immediately got into action. "This is bad!" He hurried over to the intercom. "Status report, now! What's going on?!"

"**The Chaos Creatures—vshckz—are loose! They're destroying everything—vsssshhh—got to get some hel—bvwshhhhh—Shadow can—VSSSSSSSHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH…" **Click.

'_W… wait a second… did he just say __**"Shadow"**__?! Then that totally confirms he's on here somewhere. Nrgh, great… what am I supposed to do now?'_

The professor's face was almost white now. "I've never thought it would come to this…" he muttered. He barked orders to the other scientists in the room. "Get the main G.U.N. Captain on the ARK and make sure he knows what's going on! He'll know what to do then. Make sure that everybody is evacuated to the high security wings! I don't want anyone else to get hurt! Ruby and Leo, you'll join everyone at the—"

But as soon as he turned around to tell us to go to the security wings…

Leo and I were already down the hall _towards_ the accident.

"………oh, no they didn't…"

_Down the hall…_

I ran as fast as I could toward the main control rooms. Wherever they might be. Okay, fine. I'll admit it, I had no idea where they were. But since I always seem to run into trouble when I really don't want to, I figured I could at least start running into any direction and trouble would find _me._ Or Leo. Which ever one of us fate decided to toy with next.

Leo hopped down the hall with the wires and patches still on him. "Ruby, wait! Help me get these things off! They're hard to move in!"

Reluctantly, I groaned and turned around to help him. "Alright, alright. But then we've gotta hurry! Who knows who's going to get hurt if we don't do something soon!" I said urgently.

"I get that much, but why do _we_ have to do something about it?" Leo shrugged, getting the last wire off of him.

I stared at him in disbelief. "Are you _saying_ that you'd rather sit back and watch other people aboard the ARK get killed by these Chaos-prototype-thingies?! Is that what you're saying?!"

Leo backed up three steps with his hands out. "Whoa, whoa, Whoa, Ruby!! I didn't even SAY that!" He replied, trying to defend himself. "I meant THAT to be more of a… rhetorical question."

"Oh." I blinked. That made sense now. For a second, I thought that he'd really meant that he didn't WANT to help. I waved my hand, because we had wasted enough time talking already. "You can explain on the way. Let's just get moving!" I started to run again with Leo running right along side me. "So, what did you mean?"

"What…? Oh, my statement?" He pause a moment. "I sort of meant, _'Why is it always __**us**__ who get to do these things recently?'_" I listened. "I mean, us getting powers, us helping saving the world, us getting sucked in time… it's a lot to take in, don't you think?"

Wow. That actually made sense. It's true, though. Every single time something happened, there was always something that follows. And this was happening so _recently_. Why was it happening to us?

As I thought about it, I came to one conclusion:

**There was no possible theory to answer that question.**

Of course there wasn't. It's not like one of us is _**God.**_ Let's be reasonable.

With that in mind, I half jokingly, but half _seriously_ replied, "Maybe that's just how the physics of fate works."

"HA!" Leo scoffed loudly. "If _'fate'_ is supposed to be this screwed up, they should've written a manual!"

"Amen to that!" I laughed. "But I think they should've also written a manual on how the heck to find where these creature thingies are!"

Leo and I both slowed down and stopped running. "Did that guy say," Leo panted, "that the Chaos creatures were in control rooms?"

"Yeah."

"Do you think one of them might be the same control rooms _we_ were in when we went to ARK the last time?"

"Huh… that's a good question. We should probably check it out anyhow." I looked down the hall. "I'm pretty sure we go this way." Leo and I kept up the paste again, hopefully heading down the right way.

We kept running down the halls until we heard at crashing noise from inside a room. Leo looked at me, "Think we're in front of the right place?"

"Yuppers." I looked at the door with an uneasy feeling. "Okay, before we go in, I think we should have a game plan of what to do before we should go in there and make a muck of every—"

Before I could finish, the door had already closed. And Leo was not standing next to me anymore.

"…!!" I stared at the door in front me with fury. "OH, FOR CRYING OUT LOUD, LEO!! YOU STUPID…!!" I groaned with annoyance, then just let it go and followed him in spite of my 'game plan' idea.

As soon as I got inside, my jaw dropped to the floor. Leo was _trying _to get one of the creature's attentions by running around in circles.

'_DOES COMMON SENSE NOT __**APPLY**__ TO THIS BOY AT ALL??'_

"LEO!! WHAT THE HECK ARE YOU DOING?!" I screamed, mostly with fury.

Leo waved to me, while still running around in circles, missing the creature's tentacle- thingies. "RUBY!! Shoot the thing now!!"

I looked at him with bewilderment. "Wha—" _**SLAM!**_ Another one missed him by a foot. Reluctantly, I gave up on trying to figure out what he was thinking, and pointed at the monster with the stance and all and cried out, **"Chaos Gunshot!!" **My lucky aim made it's mark and hit in the head this time! "Okay, Leo!! Stop goofing around and get out of there before—"

Then I realized something. The Chaos creature wasn't moving. At all. I took a step closer to it. "Huh…?" It's head was in shambles and there were blue splatters everywhere. "Did I… kill it?" Leo stepped near a blob of the blue goo, and poked it with he's foot, then took a short leap back, ready for the unexpected, but nothing happened.

"…I think you _did_ killed it all right." Leo stated, impressed. He lifted up his head to catch my gaze. "Oh! Ruby, I just realized—" I dashed over to him and immediately put him into a headlock.

"_**Nuggie of Disobedience!!"**_ I grinded my fist into his skull as hard as I could.

"Ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow OW OW OW OW OW OW OW OWWWWW!!" Leo yelped in pain. "RUBY!! THAT HURTS!!"

"GOOD!!" I yelled back. "DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW STUPID THAT LITTLE STUNT WAS THAT YOU PULLED WITH THAT GIANT BLOB?! **HUH?! DO YOU?!"**

"HEY, I HAD EVERYTHING UNDER CONTROL JUST FINE!!"

"I WAS THE ONE WHO SAVED YOUR **LIFE**, STUPID!!"

"BECAUSE **I TOLD YOU** TO FIRE!!"

"WELL, IT WAS A GOOD THING I ORIGINALLY CAME IN HERE TO DO THAT WHICH YOU HAD ALREADY PLANNED… WHICH WAS MEANT TO BE WHAT I PLANNED!"

"YES—uh, wait. Come again?"

"EXACTLY!" I said before briefly tightening my grip around his head, then loosening it, so he wouldn't pass out from lack of air.

Leo made a choking noise. "U…unc… uncle…! M-mer… cy…!"

I sighed and unwillingly let him go. He was bent over and gasped for breath. I think he was about to say something, until someone said from behind,

"You know, you two fight like an old, married couple."

Okay, whoever that was, they were officially going to get it from us!

"**What'd you say?!"** Leo and I spun around and spoke those words at the exact same time.

Maria flinched back, looking as sweet and pitiful as a puppy that just got kicked. I didn't like that kicked look. It made me feel like a very bad person.

"M-Maria? What are you doing here?!" I asked.

"Looking for _you_!" She replied. She seemed very desperate "You have to come with me, it's terrible! Grandfather's experiments have called a terrible accident! They're destroying the ARK!"

"Yeah… we heard that when we were in the training room with your grandpa." Leo stated.

"Oh, I see… Phew. I'm just glad you two are alright. I heard a noise down here and—" Maria's eyes gazed on the mess on the floor. Her eyes widened. She blinked. "I guess I was right… something _did_ happen here." She looked at the splattered blobs in disbelief, then turned her head towards us again. "Did you two do this? You defeated one of the experiments?"

"I guess we—" Then Leo cut me off.

"YUP! I sure did! I mean—we sure did! Uh-huh! We took care of it! It was easy-peasy-lemon-squeezy!"

I mouthed out 'easy-peasy-lemon-squeezy' to myself until I could comprehend that it was **Leo** who just said that. Who the heck says that anymore?!

As I stared at Leo, he gave me a 'what?' look.

"Wow… that's amazing!" Maria said, highly impressed. "You two must really be strong then, that's incredible!"

Leo and I blushed a little bit.

"Um… thank you." I smiled, embarrassed. It was weird… back home… people would tell me that it was important that no one should find out about my power because it was "horrifying". But Maria thought it was… "incredible". I guess one's perception on these things has changed since the past fifty years.

Leo suddenly cut in, "M-M-Maria!" He stuttered. "I… I mean… We want to help…"

'_Oh Leo…'_ I said with a slight smile. _'You hopeless idiot.'_ I walked over to him and put my hand on his shoulder. "Leo and I will help take care of these creatures and help in any way we can to keep the ARK safe. Don't worry, we do things like this back on Earth, too. You can count on us!"

Maria looked too shocked for words, but she was still able to stutter them out. "You really will? Are you sure…? You could get hurt! Shouldn't you try to find—"

I put my hand on her shoulder. "No, Maria. _You_ are the one who could get hurt. Listen, how about… you go find, uh, your 'friend', and get to safety. Okay? You're gonna have to trust us on this."

Maria looked down for a long minute, unsure. Then she looked back up at Leo and I. We smiled confidently, and she could see that we _were_ confident. She finally broke into a hopeful smile. "Of course I trust you guys… but I'm not letting you do this alone. While you two take care of some of the experiments, I'm going to find Sh—uh, my 'friend' and ask for his help."

"Okay, then. Be careful then." I turned and grabbed Leo by the arm. "We're going you doof, get a MOVE on!"

"I'm moving, I'm moving!" Leo whined.

Leo and I were gone in a second, but I could've sworn that I heard Maria whisper to us,

"You guys should be careful too…"

Okay, looks like they got this all covered. (Hopefully…) 50 years later, with Shadow…

* * *

_(Normal POV)_

Shadow's mind wondered as he ran. It's something he seemed to always be doing now. Especially in this type of situation. He was at another crossroad once again, his prize battling against his conscience.

'_Now what…?'_ He blankly wondered. _'This could be the final option on finding the truth… that's my objective, I have to strike __**now.**__' _

He replayed the warning that Black Doom had given him.

_(Flashback)_

"Sheesh! This comet is crawling with black aliens… I guess this proves that they're somehow tied with this comet." Sonic commented, after he preformed a homing attack on three unsuspected aliens. It seemed that as the further Shadow and Sonic got into the comet, the more aliens they came across. Tails and Knuckles were already inside as well, but decided to separate from Shadow and Sonic, thinking they could cover more ground. It was also suspected that there was the final Chaos Emerald somewhere on the comet… most likely with Black Doom. At least, that's what Shadow thought.

"It also seems that the further we go in," Shadow began, "the more resistant they get. That being said, I say we're getting closer to the one pulling the strings."

"Heh. Then I guess it's 'bout time we switched it into high gear. Try to keep up, if you can." Sonic waved his one finger in a 'tsk, tsk' way, then sped off at super sonic speed.

Shadow stared off. "…feh. Damn showoff." Shadow was just about to zoom off after him (after all, he couldn't let Sonic have all of the fame a glory, right?), until a familiar, bone chilling voice rang out.

"**What took you so long, Shadow?"**

Shadow halted. He knew all too well who that voice belonged to.

The Doom's Eye floated right above Shadow, looking at him. Shadow glared at it, with an intent to shoot it out of the sky.

"Didn't I say," Shadow gripped the laser gun he had, "that I wanted you out of my sight?"

The eye cackles evilly, **"If you were smart… you would do exactly as I would say… if you want any chance to get your memories back."**

Shadow lifted his finger off of the trigger. "What?"

"**The only way to restoring your memory, is by bringing all the Chaos Emeralds to ME. But first, I need you to do something about these infuriating intruders."**

Shadow stood quietly.

"**In this comet, there are a series of switches, which activates a shield, that NO ONE will be able to penetrate. There are three of them. All you have to do, is switch it so that the red sphere is up. Understand?!"**

This could be it… this could only be the way to uncover his past. But… there had to be a catch. There just had to be one.

Of COURSE there was one.

"…And after I do this 'task' for you… you'll tell me everything? What will happen then?" Shadow asked, defensively.

"**DESTROY EVERYTHING."**

_End flashback._

Shadow was now ten feet within the first switch, going over his options.

Was there even options to consider to begin with?

Wasn't finding who he was his original occupation?

Did nothing else matter?

No, nothing else matter to him.

This was the only way.

He made his own decisions, no one else.

Nobody could influence him.

Not even…

"_People make mistakes… and some are selfish, too… and mean… but, there really are good people down there, maybe some of them like Maria… but, you will never know if you don't give them a chance. Please, give them a chance… just one. Wouldn't Maria want you to do that, Shadow?"_

Pain shot through his head as another piece of his memory resurfaced. He clutched his one hand to his head. "Ugh!" He staggered forward a step, then, stood very still. Blinking very slowly, regaining his focus.

"I… remember that…" Shadow muttered. "Ruby… was pleading… begging… and crying. Because she… wanted me to do something… and… Maria…! Was that when…"

_'…I supposedly tried to destroy the Earth…?'_ Shadow questioned himself, remembering what Ruby had told him. He clenched his fist so hard in frustration, that he thought he was going to break his own hand. "DAMMIT ALL TO HELL!! WHAT DOES IT MEAN?!"

Why was everything so difficult?!

Why this?!

Why him?!

Why Ruby?!

_'…why Maria…?'_

He just couldn't get her out of his head. There was something… like a karma link to her… it felt so strong. But…

He lifted his head and headed toward the switch device. It looked like some ancient, dark stoned structure. And like the Doom's Eye said, there was two spheres that looked like a lever. One blue, one red.

Shadow placed a hand on the blue sphere.

_'I'm sorry Ruby…'_ His grip tightened. _'But I **need **know.'_

The switch turned on.

* * *

**Leo:**** GAAAAAAAAAH!! Dammit, not another cliff hanger!! You're no fun, S. Kat……. (scowls)**

**S. Kat:**** A good writer must leave their readers hanging so that they will be even more excited to read the next chapter. That's a very important rule to writing, my young friend.**

**Rouge:**** Don't you think they might be even more excited if you—**

**S. Kat:**** (puts hand out as in to say "stop") AH-AH-AH! I don't wanna hear it! I know I haven't written in a while, but a writer must also refresh his/her mind! And that's what I was doing! I was mostly thinking on how I would end the whole stinkin' story!**

**Rouge:**** Oooooooh! Is that so? Well, how bout a sneak peak then?**

**S. Kat:**** Che! Sorry, batgirl. You'll just have to be patient like everyone else. (to readers) I'm sorry for the long wait, and I thank everyone of you who reads and supports my story! I will work on the next chapter when I can! So please…**

**READ AND REVIEW AND HAVE A MERRY DAY!!**

**BYE PEOPLES!!**


	16. IMPORTANTThis story will be rewritten!

To my readers:

Hi everyone. It's been a loooong time. Like, three years? I know it's nothing new when writers on this cite seem to drop off from the face of the planet. And I can't tell you how many times I've gone back and thought about updating this story. But as I'm sure we all know; life gets in the way. But this isn't about me making excuses for never updating this story. The fact that I occasionally still receive reviews, alerts, and praises from you guys makes me feel very humble. And I truly, sincerely appreciate the support you guys have given me. Thank you. I mean it.

Now, this isn't a message saying I'm throwing in the towel—this is a message asking for some advice. To tell you guys the truth, I've often thought about this story, my OC's, and… everything about it. This story has always had a place in my heart, even though I moved on to other things in my life. You guys should know where I'm coming from. We're all writers here, right? Anyhow, I don't want to completely "forget" about this story, since it means a lot to me. Here's what I'm planning on doing right now:

I want to rewrite this entire story, "Shadowed Past." Like I said, I truly appreciate the support from you guys… but this story was written four-ish years ago. And I'm in college now, I have a different style in writing; and if anything, my writing has improved greatly. It's true I get nostalgic looking back in this story, but something else comes to mind… something like, "OH. MY. GOD. THIS FANFIC SUCKS!" I have a lot of new ideas I'd like to do about this story, regarding the plot line, especially. And maybe tweaking my OC's a little bit, regarding that fact that they coincidently got "Chaos Powers."

Sooooo… yeah! That's all I got to say!

ALSO: It's been a long time since I've been on this cite and I know I need to re-read the terms and conditions for story submissions and such. IF THIS POST SOMEHOW VIOLATES ANY OF THOSE CONDITIONS/TERMS, I APOLOGIZE PROFUSLEY AND WILL REMOVE THIS POST ON YOUR SAY-SO.

FINALLY, if you guys are still interested in "Shadowed Past" coming back from the dead, I'll take any advice/critiques that you've got! I've got a lot of ideas already, so bring it on!

I'll see you guys in the near future! Look out for me!

saphireKat

**EDIT: The new story is up. It is titled "Shadowed Past: Truth Within the Darkness." Go there. NOW! **


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